The Padlock Swindle on the Sidewalks of Seattle
A new arrival in Seattle was relieved of his life savings by a pair of confidence men using a trick lock and a fake partnership.
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 police are looking for a trio of clever confidence men who worked the spring lock swindle upon a man named J. B. Young on Monday. Young came to Seattle from the East about two weeks ago, bringing his family with him and intending to go into business with $300 he had saved. On Sunday, he met a genial fellow named Gus Brown and confided his business ambitions. Brown suggested a partnership in a restaurant on Washington Street, and the pair set out Monday to finalize the purchase. While walking along Yeder Avenue toward Thirteenth Street, they found a curious-looking padlock on the sidewalk. Young picked it up, examined its mechanism, and discovered that by touching a spring, it would pop open. When they reached Fourteenth Street, they were accosted by a stranger who asked to see the lock. The stranger challenged them to open it; when he failed to do so, Brown nudged Young to take up a $300 wager. Young deposited his savings with his 'partner,' but when he tried to trigger the lock, it remained shut. The stranger snatched the stakes, and the two swindlers vanished in different directions, leaving Young penniless. When the victim finally managed to alert the police, the men had already made their escape.
“Young then became indignant and denounced his quondam partner and the stranger as swindlers; but the stranger drew a pistol and told him to shut up.”
Street-level 'hustles' were a staple of urban life in the growing, transient cities of the late 19th century. Today’s digital scams and crypto-schemes may have replaced the 'dead sure' lock game on Yeder Avenue, but the lure of a quick, 'can't-miss' investment remains a powerful hook for newcomers.
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