The Arrest of 'Steamboat Liz'
A physical struggle between a plainclothes patrolman and a local woman sparks a near-riot in downtown Tacoma.
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.
Mary Todd, known from one end of the town to the other as 'Steamboat Liz,' was arrested late Saturday night by Plain Clothes Patrolman Ewing, who had been taken off his uptown beat to round up the city's disorderly women. When Ewing approached her near 11th and D streets to inform her she was under arrest, a violent struggle ensued. The woman put up such a fight that, according to eyewitnesses, the officer was forced to call two passers-by to his assistance. The fracas became so heated that bystanders were on the point of turning in a formal riot call. Mary Todd was later released by Captain Read and ordered to appear in police court.
“The woman could not see it that way and began to fight. After the colored men had gone to the officer's assistance, the result of the fracas still remained doubtful, and passers-by were on the point of turning in a riot call.”
This incident highlights the early 20th-century policing of public space and 'morality' in Tacoma, targeting specific individuals who were then treated as local folklore. The intersection of 11th and D—now in the heart of the downtown business district—serves as a reminder of how heavily patrolled these streets were during the city's rapid growth period.
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