A High-Stakes Carnival Chase
A hatless stranger dodges police bullets and makes a daring escape into a carnival tent.
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 stranger with no hat but a good pair of legs provided an elusive target for several bullets from Policeman J. B. Hayden this morning. Hayden attempted to take the man to jail, but the stranger preferred the Krazy House at the local carnival. The man first came to the officer’s notice at 3:00 a.m. while loitering near the First National Bank. When Hayden approached him, the man ran, forcing the officer to fire a shot. Around 9:00 a.m., Hayden found the man on Yakima Street and attempted to arrest him again. The fellow complied at first but bolted as soon as they reached the jailhouse, sprinting up the alley. The officer emptied his revolver at the fleeing man, but none of the shots took effect. The stranger successfully dove under the walls of the Krazy House tent, where he was eventually caught and subdued by a carnival employee.
“The fellow obeyed without protest but upon arriving at the jail door he dodged around the corner and started a sprint up the alley against time.”
This chaotic scene reads like a slapstick movie, yet it highlights the era's reliance on 'shoot-to-arrest' tactics that would be unthinkable in modern community policing. The 'Krazy House' at the carnival reminds us that while the town's geography has shifted, the fairgrounds and street festivals remain the social heart of Kennewick.
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