Thief Caught Red-Handed at the Lansing Hotel
A young man looking for a room is thwarted by a vigilant saloonkeeper who catches him searching through hotel belongings.
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.
John Kristonson, 20 years old, was captured late yesterday afternoon by Tom Shanks, proprietor of the Apex saloon, as he was rummaging through the belongings in Shanks' room in the Lansing hotel, opposite the post office. Shanks held the young man until Detective Kackler arrived in the auto patrol, and he was taken to the station. Kristonson claims that he just came to Tacoma and was looking for the hotel proprietor, when he saw an open door. The temptation was too great, he says, and he entered. When caught he had several stick pins and pieces of jewelry about him, and a large bunch of skeleton keys. The young man is believed to be a professional room worker.
“The temptation was too great, he says, and he entered.”
Petty theft and boarding house culture were staples of the rapidly urbanizing Tacoma of 1909. The Lansing Hotel, situated in the heart of the city's commercial district near the old post office, was a hub for transient workers, a social context that persists in Tacoma's ongoing struggle to balance transient housing needs with public safety.
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