The Great Jailhouse Swap
A bungling jailer manages to swap a suspected burglar with a drunk man, allowing the suspect to pay a fine and walk free while the wrong man sits behind bars.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
About 8 o'clock Wednesday night, Officer J. W. Glasscock followed a man he suspected of burglary out of the Golden State Hotel and placed him under arrest. He was booked as 'John Hughes.' Shortly after, John Anderson was arrested for being drunk and booked with $9.25 on his person. Somehow, Jailer Noble got the men mixed up. When the municipal court opened the next morning, the man in the receiving cell was brought before Judge Rivers, answered to the name of Anderson, paid his $5 fine, and walked out with the balance of his money. When the authorities went to get the suspect for the burglary charge, they found the real Anderson still in the cell. The police were left with a warrant for a man who had already been released by proxy, and no clear way to correct the records.
“The policemen may conclude to sort out their prisoners after they have been sentenced.”
This mix-up at the turn of the century highlights the chaotic, often arbitrary nature of early municipal policing in Seattle. The story reads like a modern farce but serves as a reminder of how quickly bureaucratic errors can lead to injustice in the justice system.
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