The Street Corner Justice
A detective fires into the sidewalk on South Second Street, wounding a fleeing shoplifter.
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.
Thomas Johnson, a rough-and-ready fellow of doubtful occupation, was shot through the right foot and the fleshy part of the left leg last evening by Detective Roberts on South Second Street, between Yesler Avenue and Washington Street. Detective Roberts was standing in the shade of the Pacific House when he noticed a young fellow pick up a box of gloves from the store of Jake Berkman. Roberts called for him to halt; the man turned, dropped the gloves, and attempted to strike the detective before fleeing toward Yesler Avenue. Roberts fired one shot at the sidewalk close to the man's feet. The bullet entered the sole of Johnson's right shoe, passed through his foot at the ball of the big toe, and traveled through the fleshy part of his left leg. Dr. Palmer, who dressed the wounds at the police station, explained that when the shot was fired, the man had his right foot in mid-air, bringing the toe close to the other leg. The wounds are not serious.
“It was evident from his actions that he was not green in the business, whatever side of the fence he may have been on in previous engagements.”
Public safety and policing in the Pioneer Square area have been a point of civic tension for over 130 years. Today, the corner of Second and Yesler is a high-traffic urban corridor, but it remains a space where the collision between poverty, crime, and heavy-handed enforcement is constantly debated.
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