The Copper Wire Bandits
Two ex-linemen were arrested in Tacoma for stealing 5,000 pounds of copper wire from dead poles and selling it.
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.
Tacoma, Nov. 12.—Detectives this evening arrested William Flyman and Jack Gatlender, who are accused of having made a living by stealing wire from electric light poles throughout the city. Both men are ex-linemen and clever enough not to touch live wires, but those on which current had been discontinued. Detectives declare the men have stolen 5,000 pounds of copper wire, which they cut up and sold to junk dealers at 10 cents a pound.
“Both men are ex-linemen and clever enough not to touch live wires, but those on which current had been discontinued.”
The theft of copper wire for scrap value is a timeless crime that continues to plague city infrastructure today, demonstrating that the black market for base metals has not changed much in over a century.
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