Five Arrested for Raiding Front Porch
A household’s belongings left on a Seattle porch proved too tempting for a group of passersby.
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.
Five individuals were locked up in the city jail yesterday afternoon on the charge of stealing household goods from John Casbaum, who lives on Thomas Avenue, near Lake Union. The Casbaum family were making changes in the house and had placed several boxes containing wearing apparel, bedclothes, and numerous other items on the front porch. A group of passersby noticed the condition of affairs and gathered up those articles most convenient to reach, starting toward the harbor front. Mr. Casbaum caught them in the act and raised an objection, leading to their arrest. Police officers apprehended Jack Slick, Indian John, and Indian George near the house, while Detective Philbrick and Officer Kent later arrested two others, identified as Charles and Jack, near the old barrel factory property in North Seattle, where they had concealed a large portion of the stolen goods in and about stumps.
“The Indians in passing noticed the condition of affairs and could not forego their instinctive desire to take everything in sight.”
This incident highlights the precariousness of domestic life in late-19th-century Seattle, where belongings were easily exposed to theft. Today, the Lake Union area has transformed from a place where one might hide stolen goods in tree stumps to a densified urban landscape, though concerns over porch piracy remain a recurring theme of city life.
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