The Unlucky Stickup Man
A would-be highwayman with a broken revolver finds himself soundly defeated in two separate Tacoma neighborhoods.
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 seizing an unloaded revolver from the show window of Joe Friedman's store at 1356 Commerce St. last night, a daring highwayman attempted to hold up two different men at 27th and Tacoma Ave. and at 35th and Pacific Ave., respectively, and was baffled in both attempts. The police are positive it was the same man in each instance as the descriptions tally remarkably. When he held up the first man, his victim turned and ran. Having an unloaded revolver, the unfortunate stickup man could do nothing. The second choice, however, was far worse than the first. When he ordered his man to 'hold up,' the robber found himself in the midst of a strenuous time and barely escaped without injuries. He took to his heels.
“When he ordered his man to 'hold up,' the robber found himself in the midst of a strenuous time and barely escaped without injuries.”
Street-level crime remains a perennial concern in urban centers, though modern Tacoma has evolved from a place where a shop-window theft could be executed with a display revolver to a more complex landscape. The story captures the improvisational, often desperate nature of petty crime in the early 20th century.
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