Chamber of Commerce Bounties for Frace Murderers
Business leaders offer $500 for the capture of the man who left James A. Frace dead under a fir tree.
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.
A resolution offering a reward of $500 for the arrest and conviction of the murderers of James A. Frace was adopted by the trustees of the Chamber of Commerce yesterday afternoon, as was also a resolution deploring his tragic death. It was recommended that the county commissioners and the city council take similar action. The chamber intended no reflection upon police or other officers who have been engaged on the case, but wished to further the search. The theory that Frace was shot even after he had been dragged beneath the small fir tree where the body was found was substantiated yesterday afternoon when Times reporters, making a diligent search of the neighborhood, found another empty cartridge within a foot of the spot where the murdered man lay. The cartridge is of the kind fired from a Colt's automatic pistol, which ejects to the front of the person firing it. Judging from the position of the empty shell, the murderer stood almost directly over the prostrate man's body and shot point blank at his head.
“The theory that Frace was shot even after he had been dragged beneath the small fir tree where the body was found was substantiated.”
This reflects a time when civic authority was often supplemented by private business interests, a precursor to the modern private security and bounty systems that often operate in shadow. While vigilantism and public bounties have faded, the tension between official police work and private 'diligence' by local institutions remains a hallmark of civic power dynamics in Tacoma.
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