The Search for 'Handsome Harry'
A classic bit of local crime reporting reveals a clash between Seattle's police and the era's self-styled 'toughs' in 1889.
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.
E.S. Lord and Harry Mack, two high-toned young men arrested Friday night for vagrancy, will have a trial in Justice Miller's court tomorrow on a territorial complaint. They are out on bail, the former having deposited $25 and the latter $50 in cash. Harry Mack is said to boast the honor of being the original 'Handsome Harry,' a pseudonym which has also been wrongfully applied to Jack Foster, who, however, is the handsomer man of the two. Handsome Harry Mack claims to be in business at Whatcom, and will attend the case. The police made arrests of several other tony vagrants yesterday.
“Harry Mack is said to boast the honor of being the original 'Handsome Harry,' a pseudonym which has also been wrongfully applied to Jack Foster.”
The 1889 fascination with 'Handsome Harry' and local 'toughs' mirrors the enduring journalistic penchant for profiling colorful neighborhood characters and street-level crime, long before the city’s rapid transformation into a tech hub.
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