Late-Night Burglary at Germani Hall
An attempted heist on Mill Street is thwarted by sharp-eared officers on patrol.
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.
About midnight, Officer Finn heard an unusual noise in the Germania beer hall, kept by Wolff, on Mill Street. Supposing it was the barkeeper shutting up, he paid little attention to the affair for a time, but finally he went to the front door and asked, 'Who is there?' At the sound of the voice, the fellows made a break for the back door and rushed down the alley to Washington Street, where they were taken in by Officers Lind and Finn. On examination, it was found that the back door had been broken in, the money drawer torn from its place under the counter, and all the money taken from it excepting a few stray coins that had been overlooked. The proprietor could not be found before time to go to press, hence we are unable to state the exact amount stolen. One of the fellows picked up had six or seven dollars in small change and thirty or forty cigars in his pocket. Five boxes of cigars were found cached away in the alley. The suspected thieves will be examined on Monday.
“At the sound of the voice the fellows made a break for the back door and rushed down the alley.”
Mill Street (now Yesler Way) was the heart of early Seattle's saloon culture. The theft of a cash drawer and cigars reflects the vulnerability of small merchants in the unregulated, bustling waterfront district that preceded the city's later formalization.
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