Late-Night Plumbing Shop Burglar Slips Through Police Net
An alert patrolman interrupted a lock-picking duo near South 17th and D, marking the fourth business targeted in the neighborhood this week.
A professional lock-picker, who has been at work in Tacoma for less than a week, barely escaped arrest late last night while working on the lock of the Ed Dube plumbing shop, 1552 South D Street. The man, who is believed to have burglarized three other business establishments this week, stationed a "pal" at the corner of Seventeenth and D streets and commenced operations on the lock. Just as he had opened the door, Patrolman Harvey Miller approached and the man on the corner hastened to the shop. Both of the culprits ran from the place and sped down the street, leaving the door open. The officer was fully a block behind them, and they disappeared in the darkness before he could get more than a partial description. Nothing was taken from the shop. Three similar jobs have been done in the vicinity of Seventeenth and D streets this week. Police officers have run several clues in an effort to locate the criminal.
“The man on the corner hastened to the shop. Both of the culprits ran from the place, and sped down the street, leaving the door open.”
While D Street has evolved significantly since 1909, the constant tension between business security and police presence remains a staple of civic reporting. The mention of multiple burglaries in one neighborhood suggests a period of concentrated crime that local residents still experience in the city's commercial corridors.
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