The Counterfeiter of Tacoma’s Lodging Houses
A man is back in custody after passing fake gold coins on unsuspecting boarding house operators.
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.
Charles Aubrey, arrested at San Francisco for passing counterfeit money in Tacoma, was brought back to this city by Deputy United States Marshal F. Towle yesterday and placed in the county jail. Aubrey is charged with passing a $10 bogus gold coin on Mrs. William Peters a few weeks ago. About seven of them were worked off on lodging house keepers here.
“About seven of them were worked off on lodging house keepers here.”
This incident highlights the vulnerability of early 20th-century boarding house operators who functioned as both landlords and informal banks for transient workers. Today's digital payment security has replaced the 'bogus gold coin,' but the precarity for small-scale residential landlords remains a persistent theme in Tacoma housing.
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