A Night of Highway Robbery on Tenth Street
A local attorney is held at gunpoint while a wave of petty crime and home invasions keeps the city in a state of alarm.
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.
Highwaymen and burglars are at work in all parts of the city, and the police appear incapable of capturing them. Thomas Littell, a well-known attorney living at 1312 Tenth Street, was accosted Friday night near the corner of Tenth and Spring streets by two masked men. One shoved a revolver into his face, while the other brandished a sandbag from behind. They robbed him of his gold watch but spared a ring he identified as a keepsake. Separately, residences in the neighborhood are being targeted; burglars recently ransacked the home of Dr. Kellogg at Tenth and Seneca, expertly cutting glass to bypass window fasteners, while another home at 1338 Tenth was only spared because a milkman happened to pass by.
“The leader thought a moment and then said: 'Oh, if that is so, I guess we'll let you keep it.'”
Reports of street-level robbery and residential burglary were a common theme in 1890s newspapers, serving as a reminder that the city's 'safety' has been a persistent civic anxiety for over 130 years.
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