The Beer Hall Heist: A Busted Scheme on the Waterfront
A would-be thief’s plan to float stolen kegs to an Indian encampment ends in a cell.
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.
Monday evening the Chief of Police arrested a fellow named John Wilson, who had broken the lock off the back door of Melhorn's beer hall on Front street, and rolled three kegs of beer out on the wharf, preparatory, it is presumed, to loading them into a small boat during the night and taking them to some Indian encampment.
“Preparatory, it is presumed, to loading them into a small boat during the night and taking them to some Indian encampment.”
This 1885 arrest on Front Street (now First Avenue) captures the transient, rough-and-tumble nature of Seattle’s early waterfront. It echoes today’s ongoing local debates regarding public safety and property theft in historic commercial corridors.
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