The Failed Heist on Second Street
A daring nighttime break-in at a Seattle hardware store is thwarted by an observant watchman.
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.
A daring attempted burglary took place at the A. F. Shaffer hardware store on Second Street. The intruders entered through a skylight and descended by means of a rope. They then opened the front door to allow two other men to enter. The thieves were busy cleaning out the safe when a night watchman, who happened to be nearby, observed the activity. When the watchman approached, the thieves threw their tools down and fled through the back of the store, disappearing into the night. The culprits remain at large, though a silver watch dropped by one of the men was recovered at the scene.
“The thieves were busy cleaning out the safe when a night watchman... observed the activity.”
Hardware stores were the anchors of downtown Seattle's early commercial district, often serving as the primary targets for thieves in an era before advanced alarm systems. The frantic race to build and inhabit the 'burnt district' following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 created a landscape of wooden temporary structures that were notoriously difficult to secure.
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