A Landlord, a Seized Trunk, and a Lady Left in Her Shift

William C. Duncan, who says he is an artist but who is much better known as a Populist curbstone orator, occupied a cell at the city jail Saturday on the charge of stealing Minnie Travers' trunk. The case would not be of special interest only for the long string of incidents connected with it and the long chase he has given the officers of the law.

Duncan is a tall, fine-looking man, with a wavy mustache and the airs of an aristocrat. He is married, and used to live in a three-roomed house described in court as consisting of a parlor, dining room and kitchen. The parlor was occupied for some time by Minnie Travers, a tall, nicely formed woman, who had a child about 2 years old. Mrs. Travers desired to take up her abode elsewhere, and there arose a dispute about the amount of money she owed Duncan. She claimed that he was offered payment of two weeks' rent but refused to settle on that basis. In order to secure the debt Duncan refused to give Mrs. Travers her trunk, which contained all her own clothes and those of the baby.

Mrs. Travers is a determined woman, so she swore out a writ of replevin December 17, in Justice Caldwell's court, and on December 24 secured judgment against Duncan for $20. During the hearing of the case considerable sympathy was elicited for her, owing to the condition of the child, which ran about the court room clad in a very abbreviated costume. Duncan argued his own case, maintaining that he kept a lodging house and therefore had a lien on Mrs. Travers' effects. This developed the fact that his "house" had only three rooms and was not recognized as in the general category of such establishments. The decision of the court, although against Duncan, did not make him deliver over the trunk either to Mrs. Travers or the constable, the latter certifying that the trunk had been spirited away. This left Mrs. Travers in a sad plight, for she was without work and had no money wherewith to purchase clothes to cover the nakedness of her little one.

When the matter was placed before Prosecuting Attorney Miller, he was wroth, so to speak, at the way the woman had been treated, and immediately filed a complaint in Justice Caldwell's court charging Duncan with petty larceny. Constable Terry King hunted high and low for him, but in some manner unknown Duncan had been apprised of what was going on and kept in hiding. It was claimed at that time that he had gone to Victoria.

The warrant grew dusty, and with the change in county officials it looked as if the affair was a dead letter. Mrs. Travers went to Tacoma, where she procured work. Duncan evidently thought he was safe and again reappeared in the city. Saturday night the poultry show attracted him. He went and was admiring the fine blooded chanticleers and the little chickens as they came out of artificially heated eggs. Then Officer Binsall walked quietly up to him and served the dusty old warrant. The arrest was made so quietly that few, if any, people realized what was transpiring. Duncan took the unexpected and disagreeable turn of affairs with as good grace as possible under the circumstances, and disappeared into the city jail, haughty to the last.