The Waterfront Pirates Who Stashed a Household in Tacoma

The arrest of Edward Stevens, whose real name is Staples, and Charles Johnson, whose real name is Burke, by Officer Michael Powers proves to be one of the most important captures made in the city for a long time. It also shows that liveryman C. T. Albrecht is something of a detective himself. It was thought that the two prisoners were responsible for the thefts of all of Mr. Albrecht's tools, those from Towle & Peters' boat house, and the boat from the Brighton boat house.

Acting on that impression, Mr. Albrecht went out yesterday, and with Officer Powers, M. D. Freeman of the Great Northern railroad, and prisoner Johnson, went to West Passage, Tacoma, where the men lived. There they found a neat three-room cottage, poorly furnished but apparently devoid of stolen property. The officers took off their coats and explored the garret and woodshed. Every move brought something to light. It was a regular robber's nest.

All kinds of house furnishings were found tucked away in nooks and corners. In the garret, well concealed, were four pairs of oars and three pairs of oarlocks, a case of black locomotive cylinder oil enough to belong to the Great Northern, a case of lanterns with the Rex trademark, a lot of Albrecht's tools, and in the woodshed a large pile of cut wood, presumably stolen. In all, the goods recovered would make a large load, and there is no question that the greater part of them were stolen. In addition to the positive identification of Mr. Albrecht's property, there was like identification for the boat taken from the Brighton boat house and concealed by Johnson and Stevens. Part of the tools taken from Towle & Peters' boat house were found, and a broken case of Standard condensed milk, thought to be taken from one of the groceries several days ago, was also found.

Among the unclaimed property were lace curtains, knives of the A. J. Jordan brand, tea, potatoes, soap, and baking powder. The men had lived there about ten or fifteen months and made trips by night every three or four days. Johnson and Stevens sold their plunder at night. There is already one charge of petit larceny against the prisoners.