The Boat Thief at the Jail Door
A suspected thief stolen from Tacoma is apprehended in Seattle, leading to a tense struggle at the threshold of the local jail.
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.
Constable Lyts yesterday received a telegram from Tacoma stating that a man by the name of Thos. Burton had stolen a boat from that place and would probably fetch up in Seattle, and requesting his arrest. Last evening he learned of the arrival of a man in a sail-boat answering the description of the one in question. He accordingly swore out a warrant and with Officer Thorndike found the man, arrested him and lodged him in jail. The fellow only denied that his name was Burton and went along with the officers without any resistance until he reached the jail door, when he demurred, and suddenly plunged one of his hands down in his pants pockets. Officer Thorndike 'smelt the mice,' and seizing hold of his wrist jerked it out suddenly. He found as he supposed that the fellow was after his knife, which he found clinched in his fist, but quickly deprived him of it. He was then put in behind the grates to await the arrival of the Sheriff of Pierce County, which will probably be some time today.
“Officer Thorndike 'smelt the mice,' and seizing hold of his wrist jerked it out suddenly.”
Boat theft remains a perennial issue along the Puget Sound waterfront, though modern maritime theft now frequently involves sophisticated outboard motor heists and high-speed pursuits. The 1877 account highlights the long-standing reliance on inter-city coordination between Seattle and Tacoma law enforcement to track suspects traveling via the Sound.
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