Two Revolvers, One Patrolman, and a $25 Thank-You
A Tacoma streetcar robbery ends in a downtown saloon gunfight — and the motorman's employer rewards the officer who walked into it.
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.
In recognition of his courageous service in capturing William Brown, alias West, and George Baron, confessed holdup men, Patrolman Swan Nelson was yesterday presented with a check for $25 by Manager W. S. Dimmock of the Tacoma Railway & Power company.
The two men, who are now serving 20-year sentences in the state penitentiary, admitted holding up a street car at the end of the P street line last November. They were captured by Officer Nelson a few nights later in a downtown saloon, after a fight in which the policeman faced two loaded revolvers in the hands of the desperate holdups.
Nelson was taken completely by surprise when the check was handed to him.
“They were captured by Officer Nelson a few nights later in a downtown saloon, after a fight in which the policeman faced two loaded revolvers in the hands of the desperate holdups.”
In 1909 the streetcar company itself — not the city — paid a bounty for catching the men who robbed its cars, a private reward for public safety. Transit crime and who pays to police it is still a live argument on Tacoma's buses and light rail. The detail that the capture happened in a downtown saloon also reminds us that the after-hours street was where the law and its quarry actually met.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.