Masked men rob streetcar near Seattle's Queen Anne Hill on November 10, 1899.

  • By Greg Lange
  • Posted 2/10/1999
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 881
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On November 10, 1899, at about 11:30 p.m. two roughly dressed masked men with guns rob eight or nine passengers on the Ballard Street Car line.

The street car with motorman A. Vandercock and conductor Ferguson left Ballard for Seattle at 11 p.m. At the foot of West Mercer Street near Elliott Bay a masked man holding a revolver jumped on the streetcar platform and ordered everyone to raise his or her hands. A second masked man came inside to cover the first man while he went through everyone's pockets.

They made away with $50 in cash and several watches. H. W. Marr, Stewart and Holmes drugstore employee, was the biggest loser with a gold watch and $15.45 in cash taken. Walter Heining saved his watch by reacting quickly and dropping it down his umbrella. The perpetrators were never caught.


Sources:

"Held Up an Electric Car," The Seattle Star, November 7, 1899, p. 1.


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