Copper Thieves Risk Electrocution for Profit
A wandering laborer is arrested in Pasco for allegedly stripping high-voltage lines, part of a spree of thefts terrorizing local utilities.
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.
In Justice Staser's court this afternoon, Joseph Dean was placed under bond to appear before the superior court on a charge of grand larceny for the alleged theft of copper wire from the Pacific Power & Light company. Dean, a wandering laborer, was arrested in Pasco Monday after selling 75 pounds of stolen wire to a dealer. He claimed he found the wire in the river, but the evidence suggested otherwise. In recent weeks, the company has lost over 800 pounds of wire. Thieves have been stripping lines near the city, including those to private homes and main supply lines, often cutting them while they remained live with 2300 volts of electricity. The high price of copper has turned wire theft into a lucrative, if deadly, criminal trade.
“That the theft is the work of experienced linemen there can be no doubt as some of the wires have been cut while carrying currents of 1100 and 2300 volts.”
Copper theft remains a persistent issue for infrastructure today, but the 1916 context underscores how dangerous and high-stakes this specific type of utility sabotage was, even a century ago.
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