The 'Gentleman' Thief and the Seattle Police Ring

Officers Rugg and Allen, and Special Officer John Campbell, arrested Campbell and Carran yesterday for receiving stolen goods. It is intimated that these arrests are but the first steps in a thorough rounding up of a well-organized ring of thieves that has long terrorized Seattle and to which many of the burglaries and robberies in the city can be directly traced. The arrest of Campbell and Carran is the result of shrewd work by the officers, who managed to learn the facts concerning the organization of the gang. The specific charge upon which Carran and Campbell are held is that a trunk, which was stolen from the house of E. M. McNeal last May, was found in a boarding house on Browell street. Campbell claims that he got the trunk from Carran at the time of their arrest. At the time that McNeal’s house was burglarized, Campbell was on the police force, having been appointed as a reward for furnishing information leading to the apprehension of a fugitive. The theory of the police is that Carran operated a pawn shop as a front for thieves, while Campbell watched the movements of the police and threw them on the wrong scent whenever they got too close to the trail. The officers say there can be no doubt that the crowd they are now following up did the stealing, while Carran acted as receiver and Campbell watched the movements of the police.