The Great Seattle Turkey Heist
A desperate plea from your neighbors to return their fruit jars, as petty theft plagues the city ahead of the Thanksgiving feast.
For some time past we have heard complaints of the stealing of small articles from houses in various parts of the town, and learn that the officers are now on the track of the supposed guilty parties. A few nights ago a gentleman residing on Front street lost a turkey, which he was fattening for Thanksgiving. Another family, residing on Third street, had stolen from them a number of jars filled with fruit, and one residing on Fourth street met with a similar loss a few nights since. These persons wish us to say that the thieves who took the fruit are welcome to it, but the jars belonged to a new set, which should not be broken, and if they are returned, no questions will be asked about the fruit they contained.
“These persons wish us to say that the thieves who took the fruit are welcome to it, but the jars belonged to a new set, which should not be broken.”
While Seattle’s 1880 concerns focused on Thanksgiving turkeys and stolen jam jars, the underlying anxiety about 'hard-looking cases' and petty property crime persists in modern headlines. The plea for the return of empty jars highlights a persistent local tradition of neighbors policing the commons through the community newspaper.
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