The Unlucky Traveler
A local man arrived from the Cascade Tunnel with a healthy savings in his pocket, only to have his pockets picked at a local hotel by morning.
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.
John O'Connor came down from the Cascade Tunnel and put up at one of our local hotels. He had saved from his earnings $95, which he put into his coat pocket. The next morning he discovered that his pocket had been removed, money and all, and he is now looking for the man who performed the surgical operation.
“He had saved from his earnings $95, which he put into his coat pocket. The next morning he discovered that his pocket had been removed, money and all.”
Stories of petty theft and 'savage' pickpocketing at boarding houses and hotels were staples of Seattle's early growth. The city was a transient port, and theft was a constant risk for laborers arriving with their life savings in their coats.
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