Midnight Cattle Rustlers at Richmond Beach
Three valuable animals, including a prize Jersey and two Holsteins, were spirited away under the cover of darkness.
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.
A bold and successful cattle robbery was perpetrated at Richmond Beach about 11 o'clock Friday night, by which C. W. Smith lost three valuable animals. The case is now in the hands of the detectives, and it is believed the cows are hidden in Seattle. Yesterday morning when Mr. Smith went to the corral he found that some one had broken in and driven off one Jersey cow, one Holstein bull calf and one Holstein cow. The animals were tracked a short distance down the county road toward Seattle, but owing to by-paths and other roads the trail was lost. The matter was reported to the police, and the latest information received was from a man who reported to Capt. F. E. Sims that about 1 o'clock Saturday morning he met a man driving three animals along the Richmond Beach road toward Seattle.
“The animals were tracked a short distance down the county road toward Seattle, but owing to by-paths and other roads the trail was lost.”
In 1892, Richmond Beach was an agrarian outpost, and the loss of livestock was a significant financial blow that required a police investigation. Today, the area is a dense residential neighborhood where cattle rustling has long been replaced by the stresses of urban development and property disputes.
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