City Clerk Faces Embezzlement Charges
A Tacoma official is arrested at his suburban home and charged with embezzling city funds, blaming the trouble on a licensing irregularity.
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.
City Clerk Smyth showed up in the municipal court today to stand trial on the charge of embezzling $50. The hearing of the matter was adjourned to the 29th inst. at 10 a.m. Mr. Smyth was out of his office at the time search was made for the records of the money which the stub shows was paid into the hands of some one of the city officials. He was arrested at his house, which is in the outer suburbs, in the evening, and taken to the city jail. Mr. Smyth said to a Post-Intelligencer reporter that his understanding of the irregularity is that an Italian peddler was running two wagons on one license, and that the coming up of the case in court led to the examination of his books in his absence.
“His understanding of the irregularity is that an Italian peddler was running two wagons on one license.”
This event captures the era's focus on individual accountability within city government, while the mention of the 'Italian peddler' highlights how immigrant laborers were frequently scapegoated in administrative disputes.
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