The Long Road Back to San Francisco
After months of legal battles and a literal tug-of-war, a man wanted in California is finally extradited.
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.
The long, drawn-out and desperately contested extradition proceedings of George Roberts, wanted in San Francisco for grand larceny, came to an end in Tacoma when Judge De Haver of the federal district court refused to grant a writ of habeas corpus. Roberts and his wife, who stood by him through the legal entanglements, finally gave up the fight. Earlier, in a bizarre scene at the South Tacoma depot, Deputy Sheriff Doten and Detective Ryan engaged in a tug-of-war over Roberts' person. Ryan had handcuffed himself to the prisoner to prevent his seizure, forcing the officers to literally saw through the chains to separate them. Roberts claims the extradition attempt is fueled by the hostility of his wife's wealthy relatives, who he believes are using the legal system to ruin him.
“Doten then sent to Tacoma for a saw, and sawed Ryan and Roberts asunder.”
Extradition battles were surprisingly common in the early 20th century, often serving as proxies for personal vendettas or class warfare. The desperate image of a husband and wife fighting the state while handcuffed together remains a haunting relic of the era's legal brutality.
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