Theft and the 'People's Theater'
A recent arrival to Seattle finds his night out at a local theater ends with an empty pocket and an arrest.
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.
Minnie Hill, one of the women who sell beer at the People's theater, was arrested last night on the charge of stealing a pocketbook containing about $15 and private papers from Frank Strege, a recent arrival from Providence, R. I. Strege claims he bought four or five bottles of beer for the woman night before last and left her at 12:30 o'clock, expecting to see her again. He didn't, but found that his pocketbook was missing. The woman was released on $50 cash bail furnished by A. U. Lane.
“He didn't, but found that his pocketbook was missing.”
This story highlights the era's 'vice' districts and the often predatory nature of transient nightlife in late 19th-century Seattle. The People's Theater was part of the rough-and-tumble entertainment scene that defined the waterfront area before the city's more rigorous moral reform movements took hold.
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