The City’s War on Early Motorists
Tacoma's Chief of Police launches a crackdown on 'auto speeders' along Pacific Avenue, dragging local business owners and residents into court for driving too fast.
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.
Nine prominent motorists of the city were haled into police court this afternoon on the charge of exceeding the speed limit on Pacific avenue last week. The charges are all made by Chief of Police Duley, who has declared a vigorous war against all speeders. Last week a special officer with a stop-watch and a pad of paper was stationed on Pacific avenue and other principal streets and today's grist is a result of his operations. As the motorists violated the speed limit the officer took the number of each car, then reported it to the chief. Chief Duley promises that the officer will be stationed about the city for the remainder of the summer, if need be, and all offenders will be forced to appear in court. Those who faced Judge Arntson this afternoon were: D. M. Spalt, proprietor of the Newport hotel; P. H. Baldie, Mrs. Jessie Baldie, W. H. Moore, cashier for John B. Stevens company; Charles C. Stevens, B. Bertleson, of Bertleson Co.; C. W. Griggs, of Griggs Investment company; Mrs. Mary Keller, and H. A. Rhodes, of Rhodes Brothers company.
“Chief of Police Duley, who has declared a vigorous war against all speeders.”
The tension between the 'progress' of new technology—in this case, the automobile—and the city's attempts to regulate public space is a story that repeats with every shift in transit, from streetcars to modern gig-economy delivery. The list of prominent business owners named suggests that traffic enforcement, even then, carried a social weight.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.