A Night-Time Heist at the Ayrault
While the city debated the building of a new jail, a brazen robbery at a prominent lodging house left guests missing hundreds of dollars in jewelry and gold.
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.
During the early hours of yesterday morning, the Ayrault hotel, at the corner of Second and Pine streets, was entered and valuables aggregating nearly $500 were stolen from a number of the guests. Entrance to the house was probably effected through the front door, which is always open. From the room of William Watkins, a diamond ring of the value of $100 was stolen, along with all his spare change. The thieves must have left this room hastily, as a lot of valuable jewelry was overlooked. From Mr. Watkins, a gold watch was stolen and also some money. It is likely the crime occurred about 2 o'clock in the morning, as about that time Mr. J. Shepherd, whose room is on the top floor, heard a noise in the bathroom across the hallway. Thinking that it was one of the boarders that made the noise, he paid no attention to it and went to sleep.
“Thinking that it was one of the boarders that made the noise, he paid no attention to it and went to sleep.”
The Ayrault hotel’s open-door policy, which made it easy for thieves to slip in, echoes the perennial tension between hospitality and security in Seattle. Even in the 1890s, the city struggled with a 'transient element'—a framing of crime that persists in modern debates about neighborhood safety and urban growth.
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