The Shadowed Streets of Old Tacoma
A late-night robbery on Jefferson Street leaves a local man penniless and sparks public outrage over a surge in city crime.
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.
Two masked men this evening held up Charles Rickards, a resident of the South End, on Jefferson street, at an alley between Seventeenth and Twenty-first streets. Holding two cocked revolvers near Rickards' head, they commanded him to 'shell out his money.' He had four silver dollars, and passed it over to the highwaymen. When he pleaded that it was all the money he had, the robbers returned and told him to 'get.' Rickards fled. The street was thronged with pedestrians at the time.
“Holding two cocked revolvers near Rickards' head, they commanded him to 'shell out his money.'”
Street robberies in Tacoma's South End were a source of significant civic anxiety in 1891, mirroring modern frustrations with public safety and property crime in urban corridors. The contrast between the 'thronged' streets and the bold audacity of masked highwaymen highlights a historical vulnerability that remains a recurring point of civic debate in Washington's downtown centers.
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