The Strange Robbery on Coppin’s Hill
A local saloon owner claims he was robbed by footpads, but his suspicious story leads police to consider a city-wide crackdown on transients.
J. Clissman, the German who recently bought out Joe Kappler's beer hall on Front Street, states that while on his way home Thursday night, when on Coppin's Hill, he was held up and robbed by a couple of footpads who took from him $160 in cash. They did not take his revolver, however, for he claims to have fired three or four shots at them. One of them returned the fire, the ball glancing near his body and making a hole through his coat. While it is true his story does not hold together very well, still there may be more or less truth in his statement. The matter is being investigated, and if the police become convinced that his statements are true, a raid will probably be made and all questionable characters notified to leave the city.
“The only way to keep these affairs in a healthy state is to sit down on the first violator of the law that is apprehended.”
This 1883 report highlights the perennial tension between property owners and the unhoused or 'transient' population in growing cities. The demand for 'questionable characters' to leave town mirrors modern debates over public safety and encampment policies in downtown Seattle.
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