A Sack of Potatoes and Three Days' Work in Three Months
George Cormack was caught stealing produce from a Seattle sidewalk. In court, the unemployed laborer's five clean years and a character witness persuaded the judge to let him pay later.
George Cormack, a laborer who had been out of work for some time, picked up a sack of potatoes from the sidewalk in front of A. A. Denny's house on Front Street and ran to the London House on West Street, near Seneca, before Officers Kelley and Powers caught him.
It was found out that the potatoes belonged to Godwin Bros., produce dealers on West Street, and had been left on the sidewalk owing to a breakdown of a team.
Cormack pleaded guilty, said he had lived in the city five years and never been arrested before. He could not tell why he took the potatoes, but said he had had only three days' work in as many months. Judge Glasgow fined him $25, but on the statement of J. M. Quilter as to the prisoner's previous good character he was released and given until the middle of April to pay the fine.
“He could not tell why he took the potatoes, but said he had had only three days' work in as many months.”
Cormack's case is a small window into a familiar Seattle argument: when work disappears, do we punish people for surviving, or treat the cause? The judge's leniency was a recognition that three days' work in three months was the real problem.
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