The Shadow in the Long Grass
A community in Tacoma is on edge after the discovery of a makeshift bed in a meadow leads residents to believe a fugitive murderer is living among them.
Sheriff Denholm and his deputies believe they have discovered the spot at which a murderer known as Smith has been passing his nights for a week past. It is a meadow surrounding the residence of J. M. Junette at Pine and Center streets. Wednesday the grass was cut and a lair was found where some man had been sleeping for a week or ten days. The grass had been pulled up and piled together, making a soft mattress, while loose grass piled around was used for a covering. The Junette family believes that Smith has been sleeping there. The place affords an excellent hiding place, and as bushy timber reaches down to the edge of the meadow, no difficulty would be experienced by a fugitive in escaping observation by crawling through the long grass to the timber. A Mrs. Kettleman, who lives near Mr. Junette's home, believes she saw Smith Wednesday evening. A farmer who keeps cows in the vicinity says that one of his cows has been milked regularly once a day for a week, and he believes Smith has been responsible. Residents along Center street are in a state of high nervous tension, fearing some depredation, and women and children will not venture out after nightfall.
“The residents along Center street and vicinity... are in a state of high nervous tension, fearing some depredation and not knowing upon whom the calamity will fall.”
This report captures the raw, localized anxiety of a manhunt in an era before modern surveillance. While the specific geography of these 'scrubby' meadows in South Tacoma has long since been subsumed by urban development, the neighborhood's fear of a 'hidden' threat remains a familiar cadence in local news cycles.
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