The Gang That Left the Coat Hangers Behind
Two break-ins in twelve days, fifty-five suits and a thousand dollars gone, and a trail of hangers in a brush heap behind the Kennewick Hotel.
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.
The Kennewick Clothing company, in less than two weeks, has lost more than one thousand dollars' worth of suits, overcoats and shoes through burglary. The goods were carried off in two raids, the first early Saturday morning, November 18, and the second some time Monday night of this week.
There is every indication that the two robberies were the work of the same gang of thieves, but as yet none of the stolen goods have been recovered or any trace of the robbers found.
Entrance to the store both times was made through the back door, the first time the lock being forced by the use of a crowbar. Monday night, to effect an entrance, the burglars had to smash a panel in the back door, as the door had been heavily barred from the inside since the first robbery.
Although it is impossible to determine how much loot was secured, it is known that the robbers carried off 32 suits of clothes, several overcoats, some underwear and 10 pairs of shoes this time, and 23 suits and several other articles of clothing the first time. Until the coat hangers were found on the vacant lot at the rear of the Kennewick Hotel, where they had been discarded by the burglars, S. Feuchtwanger of the clothing company was of the opinion that not more than six suits were taken the first time.
The coat hangers were found Tuesday forenoon by Chief of Police Copeland. The first time the robbers took the precaution to bury them under some dry leaves, but Monday night they tossed them carelessly into a brush heap. The empty shoe and underwear boxes were left in the alley at the rear of the store.
From the tracks in the alley the police are of the opinion that there were three of the robbers, two of them probably standing guard while the third entered the store.
The local police department and the sheriff's office are both putting forth every effort to apprehend the robbers. Sheriff Duffy is of the opinion that the robbery is the work of a well organized gang of thieves who have been working in several of the small towns of the state, but as yet the authorities of this or the other counties in which they have operated have been unable to run any of the robbers down or to locate the blind through which they dispose of their stolen goods.
“The first time the robbers took the precaution to bury them under some dry leaves, but Monday night they tossed them carelessly into a brush heap.”
A thousand dollars in 1916 clothing is roughly $30,000 today, and the story turns on the small tell: hangers buried under leaves the first time, tossed in a brush heap the second. Retail theft rings working a circuit of small Washington towns are still a sheriff's problem — and this case ends where such cases often do, with no arrest.
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