The Watch Works in the Tin Box
A Tacoma police court tries to untangle a stolen gold watch, a suspicious express package, and a blackmailing letter.
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.
TACOMA, Aug. 30. — The most important point brought out in the Chase-Ross-Joy theft case today was the statement by the jeweler who sold the tin box in which the works of Herbert H. Joy's gold watch were found, that the box was not bought by Dr. Hugh Ross of Seattle. Ross is a tug man and could have been easily distinguished. Mr. Chase is not a common-appearing man, and if he bought the box it is believed the jeweler would have recognized him, but he does not. The facts already published in the POST-INTELLIGENCER were again gone over in the police court today, and then the case was adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow. The court has given notice that it proposes to get down to bedrock facts in the matter and find out just what were the motives of the persons who stole Mr. Joy's property and who were instrumental in sending the stolen goods to Portland.
Mr. Chase's story is to the effect that Ross, after getting his room at the Hotel Chilberg, came to him at the Hotel Tacoma in the morning and said he was going to Portland or somewhere and try to get work. He was hard up, he said, and, inasmuch as he did not know anyone in particular in Portland, Chase gave him the name of his brother and said he might send his express package to him.
In connection with the alleged blackmailing letter referred to in today's POST-INTELLIGENCER, Mrs. Ross created a scene in the McNaughton detective service headquarters here about a year ago. She demanded the return of certain letters, and when they were not forthcoming she threw open a window and shouted 'Police' and a lot of other things. Mr. McNaughton said she threatened to make a scene if he did not comply, and he told her to go ahead, and she did. She was arrested, but no complaint was lodged against her, and she lodged no complaint against McNaughton.
“The court has given notice that it proposes to get down to bedrock facts in the matter.”
The case turns on small physical details—a tin box, a jeweler's memory, an express package—the kind of evidence modern detectives still build cases around. It also shows how quickly a local theft could become a blackmail scandal in the 1890s, with reputations and newspapers doing as much work as the police.
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