The Unwitting Accomplice in the Potato Heist
A waterfront yarn about a man tricked into 'stealing' two sacks of potatoes to thwart a pair of actual thieves.
It was on the waterfront, and a couple of seafaring men and a citizen were recounting youthful escapades. One sailor recounted how he robbed a vineyard, and the citizen laughed. 'I did more than that,' said the other sailor, 'and I didn't realize that I was stealing until after the theft had been accomplished. It happened right here one night last fall. I was sitting on the dock when along came Bill. He says to me, 'I wish you'd help me row my boat over to Whatcom.' We rowed until we came to Uncle John Bannett's place. We climbed the hill, and Bill made straight for a potato patch. I soon found out why, for Bill says: 'Here's the scoundrels all right,' and I looked and saw two men digging potatoes and filling a couple of sacks. The men heard us, cleared the fence, and tore down the embankment as though the devil was after them. 'Here,' said Bill, 'shoulder that sack, while I pick up this one,' and I did, and down we trudged with them two sacks of potatoes. It never occurred to me that I was stealing until I dropped my sack of spuds in that boat. Bill knew them two rascals were going to steal the old man's potatoes, and just naturally used me to help him plunder the thieves.'
“I seen I'd been jobbed all right. Bill knowed them two rascals was going to steal the old man's murphies, and just naturally used me to help him plunder the thieves.”
While this reads like a classic piece of waterfront folklore, the core of the story—the informal vigilante justice found on the Grays Harbor docks—reflects the rough-and-tumble nature of Aberdeen's early boom years, where harbor law was often written by the men on the docks.
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