A Wild Chase Through the Streets of Pioneer Square
A suspected thief leads police on a gunfire-strewn foot chase from Yealer Avenue to the shadows of the Mug saloon.
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 man known to police as Johnson, suspected of grand larceny, led authorities on a frantic pursuit through downtown Seattle yesterday. The suspect allegedly entered the store of Philo Silverstone at Yealer and Railroad Avenues, where he helped himself to watches, cash, rings, and revolvers while the proprietor was at dinner. Detective Cudihce spotted the suspect later at Fourth and Main streets. Upon being discovered, Johnson fled, forcing the detective and Officer M. J. Powers to fire several shots at him. The suspect brandished a pistol at bystanders before finally being cornered in an alley between South Third and South Second streets, near the Mug saloon. He was taken into custody, and both he and the recovered pistol are expected in court.
“The fellow was determined not to be caught and thrust a cocked revolver at one or two men who tried to stop him.”
The geography of this chase—centered on the intersection of Railroad Avenue (now Alaskan Way) and the waterfront—traces a route that has been completely transformed by the development of the seawall and the erasure of many early Pioneer Square alleys. The chaotic intersection of street crime and law enforcement reflects the gritty, rapidly expanding urban frontier of 1890s Seattle.
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