The Selectively Honest Burglars
A local family returns home from the theater to find their house ransacked, but the thieves were only interested in cash.
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.
Burglars ransacked the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kugel, 1506 South Yakima Avenue, last evening, while the occupants were out enjoying themselves at one of the theaters. The burglars forced their entrance by means of an ordinary key immediately after the departure of Mr. and Mrs. Kugel for the evening. When they returned home and found that thieves had entered they made a hurried investigation and found that no jewelry or other valuable things had been touched, and it is believed the burglars were in search of money only.
“It is believed the burglars were in search of money only.”
This report captures the anxieties of early 20th-century residential life in Tacoma's Hilltop neighborhood. The detail about the 'ordinary key' suggests a common vulnerability in home security that still persists in the concerns of homeowners today.
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