Midnight Mugging on South D Street
A streetcar conductor fights off two assailants after being ambushed on his walk home.
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.
Ed Mohr, a streetcar conductor, was held up on South D Street near Seventeenth last night by two men. The thugs attacked him with clubs, but he was able to fight them off. When the victim showed signs of resistance the assailants were glad to get away. Mr. Mohr was attacked about midnight while on his way home. As he neared a dark place on the street, two men stepped out of the shadow and ordered him to throw up his hands. Instead of doing so, Mohr grappled with the fellow and the two rolled to the ground. While they were scuffling, Mohr was struck on the head and a slight scalp wound inflicted. He soon broke away and landed a couple of good kicks on the thugs before he could get away. The second man kept a discreet distance and both men disappeared as soon as Mohr got up. The wound in Mr. Mohr's head bled quite freely.
“As he neared a dark place on the street, two men stepped out of the shadow and ordered him to throw up his hands.”
Street safety and lighting have been perennial concerns in Tacoma's urban corridors. While the specific intersection of South D and 17th is today a mix of residential and commercial development near the freeway, the vulnerability of service workers walking home at night remains a common resonance in urban life.
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