The Midnight Room Invader
A locomotive engineer interrupts a burglary in progress at an American lodging house, leading to a foot chase and a quick arrest.
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.
Charles Hunt, aged 19 years, was arraigned before Justice Von Tobel yesterday, charged with burglarizing a room in the American lodginghouse, in the southern portion of the city. About 4 o'clock yesterday morning William Wirth, a locomotive engineer, heard someone open his bedroom door, and a moment later heard the jingle of coin. He turned over and saw young Hunt in his trousers pockets. He sprang from bed and Hunt went out at the open door as if shot from a gun. Wirth followed the thief to his own room, but Hunt closed and locked the door as soon as he got in. Wirth called the proprietor and had him stand guard until he called a policeman. An officer opened the door and found Hunt and a boy, known to the police as 'Shorty,' apparently fast asleep. He marched Hunt to jail. 'Shorty' swore that Hunt had not been out of his room all night, but Justice Von Tobel would not believe it and bound the young man over to the superior court in the sum of $500.
“He turned over and saw young Hunt in his trousers pockets. He sprang from bed and Hunt went out at the open door as if shot from a gun.”
This incident highlights the vulnerability of the 'lodging house' economy of 1890s Seattle, where transient workers lived in close quarters. The tension between the working-class residents and the petty thieves who preyed upon them mirrors modern concerns over security in Single Room Occupancy (SRO) environments.
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