Engineer Defends Purse in Near-Fatal Hold-Up
After refusing to surrender his money, a young man is shot twice but manages to throw his attacker over a 14-foot embankment.
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.
Gilbert W. Caughran is recovering at Fannie Paddock hospital after being shot twice during an attempted hold-up on Tacoma Avenue near Sixth Avenue. At 11 o'clock last night, an assailant demanded Caughran's purse. Instead of surrendering it, Caughran hurled the purse into the robber's face. In the ensuing struggle, Caughran received two gunshot wounds—one to the lung and one through the collarbone—and his hand was badly lacerated by the thug's teeth. Despite his wounds, the athletic engineer managed to overpower the attacker and hurl him over a 14-foot embankment. Police have recovered the robber's hat, marked with the initials 'E. G.', and two revolvers dropped during the fight.
“Instead of placing the purse on the walk, as he was directed, he hurled it into the robber's face.”
Tacoma’s geography of steep ravines, or 'gulches,' often dictated the drama of city life; the embankment mentioned here remains a signature of Tacoma’s challenging topography. While the specific intersection of Tacoma Avenue and Sixth Avenue remains a busy thoroughfare, the violent street-level encounters of 1904 continue to echo in modern concerns over public safety and urban transit security.
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