The Courtroom Crowd That Cracked the Doors
Two women accused of lifting hats, silk and underwear from a Tacoma dry-goods store drew a crowd so large the doors cracked and a window broke.
Tacoma, May 8.—Special.—The municipal court was packed until the doors cracked and a window was broken this afternoon. Mrs. Fanny Flogel and Mrs. L. A. Olsen, the alleged shoplifters, were having their preliminary hearing on the charge of grand larceny, and that was the occasion for the crowd. The women appeared with L. A. Olsen and looked very nervous. They were represented by Attorneys F. C. Robertshaw and J. P. Tass. Not a great deal of testimony was taken. George H. Stone, of the dry goods firm of Sanford & Stone, and the arresting officers were the only witnesses on the stand. After their damaging evidence the defense waived further examination, and the women were bound over by Acting Judge Charles E. Claypool to the superior court in the sum of $1,500 each. Bail in each case was furnished by L. A. Olsen and Ben Moyes.
Stone positively identified three hats, valued at $10, a brown cape, $18 worth of silk, four dozen linen towels, $14 worth of navy blue China silk, 21 pieces of ladies' underwear, a trimmed black silk skirt and other articles, all of which he swore were taken from his establishment. The goods were part of those in the possession of the women.
Detectives Sterling, De Roy and Ashby told of finding the goods, and of the women asking them to have the complaint withdrawn on their agreeing to return the goods.
“The municipal court was packed until the doors cracked and a window was broken this afternoon.”
A shoplifting case became a public spectacle in 1895 Tacoma, drawing a crowd large enough to break the courtroom. Today retail theft and the question of who gets prosecuted—and how—still shape public debate, though courtroom doors are less likely to give way.
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