Late Night Ambush Leaves Tacoma Man Fighting for Life
A lone gunman remains at large after a brutal struggle left a young victim with critical gunshot wounds.
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.
After spending a restless night, Gilbert W. Caughran, who was held up and shot twice by a lone highwayman Thursday night, rallied somewhat this morning, and the physicians attending him now have greater hopes for his recovery. The most serious wound sustained by Mr. Caughran in his struggle with the thug is the bullet hole through his right lung. The other shot, which entered the body near the collarbone, is not giving Caughran much pain, but as the physicians have not yet removed either bullet, more dangerous complications may set in at any time. The unknown robber who inflicted the wounds which may prove fatal to young Caughran is still at large, and as time passes the chance of his capture grows more improbable, as the outlaw has had ample opportunity to flee from the city. The two revolvers which the holdup dropped during his tussle with Caughran are in the possession of the police, but all efforts to find the place where they were purchased have been in vain.
“The unknown robber who inflicted the wounds which may prove fatal to young Caughran is still at large.”
Street safety and random acts of violence remain a point of civic anxiety in Tacoma. The desperate investigation described here, relying on tracing store-bought revolvers, underscores how policing has changed while the vulnerability of a citizen walking home alone has not.
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