The Predator on the Streets of Tacoma
A young woman narrowly escapes an encounter with a persistent street harasser in the South End, fueling police concerns about local safety.
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.
Evidence that a social degenerate is operating in Tacoma in the guise of a hold-up man has again been brought to the attention of the police by the reported hold-up of Miss Josephine Hammond at South Sixth and Warner streets last Friday evening. According to Miss Hammond, she had just alighted from a streetcar when a man approached her and ordered her to throw up her hands. When they had nearly reached the shrubbery, another man approached, and Miss Hammond seized him, imploring him for help. At this, the alleged hold-up man slunk into the darkness and Miss Hammond reached the home of friends in safety.
“Evidence that a social degenerate is operating in Tacoma in the guise of a hold-up man has again been brought to the attention of the police.”
While 'hold-up' was the language of the era, the story describes a gendered threat of abduction or sexual violence that residents still face in urban transit safety debates today. The intersection of South 6th and Warner remains a residential hub in the North End, showing that fear of walking alone in one's neighborhood has long been a part of the Tacoma experience.
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