Caught Red-Handed: A Midnight Grocery Heist
A burglar's attempt to crack open a downtown Seattle grocery store was thwarted by an alert clerk sleeping just upstairs.
A burglar was captured in the act of robbing Barker's grocery store, on the corner of 6th and Main streets, about 11 o'clock last night. The thief effected an entrance to the store by prying open the back door with a chisel. In so doing, he made a noise that awoke a young man sleeping upstairs, who slipped out and notified Officer Willard. When Officer Willard reached the store, he found the burglar crouched behind the counter. He said he was hired to sleep in the store, but when asked to whom the store belonged, said 'Mr. Johnson.' He made no resistance to arrest, and on his way to jail admitted that he broke into the store to get something to eat. He gave the name of Charles Johnson, and said he just came to the city. The police are of the opinion that he is a 'hobo' rather than a professional cracksman.
“He said he was hired to sleep in the store, but when asked to whom the store belonged, said 'Mr. Johnson.'”
The intersection of 6th and Main in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District remains a commercial hub, though the 1888-era problem of transient burglary driven by hunger—and the rough policing that followed—persists in modern debates over property crime and social safety nets.
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