The Stowaway with Seventeen Guns
A Victoria burglar thought he’d outsmarted police by hiding between decks on the steamer *Premier*, but a sharp-eyed customs officer at the Seattle dock caught him red-handed—and found his loot.
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.
Matthew Casey is in jail for burglarizing a gun store in Victoria last Sunday night, and in evidence against him, the Seattle police have in their possession a valise containing seventeen extra fine revolvers valued at $500.
The Victoria police were not made aware of the theft until Monday morning, and, though they suspected Casey was the burglar, they could not find him. All the outgoing steamers were closely watched, but he was not seen to board.
Shortly after the steamer *Premier* left Victoria for Seattle, the police were given evidence that made them positive that the man wanted was on board, and word was sent to Port Townsend to arrest him as soon as the steamer arrived at the dock. Upon the arrival of the *Premier*, she was searched, but no trace of the thief could be found, and the boat left for Seattle without Casey being arrested.
When the *Premier* arrived at Seattle at 6:25 o'clock yesterday morning, Customs Officer Tung stationed himself at the gangplank and watched. He finally caught sight of a man crawling out of a place where he had stowed himself 'between' decks. It was Casey, and when he straightened himself out, he reached into the place where he had crawled and pulled out a valise. While going ashore, he was placed under arrest.
The revolvers were found in the valise, and the man was turned over to Police Officer Brennan, who took his man to headquarters. Casey occupies a safe steel cell in the city jail, and will soon be taken back to the scene of his crime by a Victoria detective, who is now on his way to Seattle.
This 1906 tale of a burglar hiding in the bilge of a passenger steamer feels like a thriller from a modern airport security log. It highlights how, even with early 20th-century technology, the sheer volume of human traffic between Pacific Northwest ports created blind spots that criminals could exploit—a problem that persists today in various forms of transit security.
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