Late Night Hold-Up Near 26th Street
The proprietor of a local drug store is intercepted by an armed robber who spent time casually chatting while searching his pockets.
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.
Stephen E. Guthrie, owner of the Alpha Drug Store at the corner of D and 26th Street, was robbed at gunpoint around 9:30 last night. A lone highwayman approached him near 27th Street. The robber was not masked and engaged Guthrie in conversation while methodically searching his pockets, expressing disappointment that he did not find more cash. After failing to find a large sum, the robber warned Guthrie to walk away without turning around. Guthrie later notified the police after returning to his store.
“He was not in the least disposed to hurry and made a careful search of Mr. Guthrie's clothes, expecting to find more money.”
Street-level crime reporting in the early 20th century often captured the vulnerability of local business owners walking home. The interaction reveals a strange, tense intimacy of the era's street life, differing from today's more detached nature of urban violence.
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