Ray G. Young, deputy collector at the U.S. Customs Office in Tacoma holds a confiscated cigarette case made in China. Behind him is a display of opium smoking gear that also had been confiscated by Customs officials. Items include 5-tale opium tins, opium "decks", pipes, lamp and yen hok and yen skee gow, and scraper tools used by addicts. The U.S. Customs Office is located in the Federal Building. (T.Times, 4/19/1948, p.1)

Young, Ray; Customhouses--Tacoma; Customs inspections--Tacoma--1940-1950; Government officials--Tacoma--1940-1950; Opium; Opium pipes; Drug seizures--Tacoma--1940-1950; Narcotics; Government facilities--Tacoma;

Postmaster George Fishburne is retiring after 14 years in this position, before Fishburne was Postmaster he was an Assistant U. S. Attorney. Fishburne will give a talk to the Women's Club entitled "The History of the Postal Service", covering issues from the Pony Express to airmail. View of Postmaster Fishburne in his office (T. Times, 12/31/46, p. 1).

Postmasters--Tacoma; Government officials--Tacoma; Fishburne, George P.--Resignations; Retirements--Tacoma;

Harry Ault desk shot. Harry E. B. Ault just celebrated his 61st birthday on October 30th. Ault was born in Kentucky in 1883 and has had a very interesting life. Ault has been a newspaper publisher, politician, print shop operator and was appointed Deputy U. S. Marshal in 1938 (T. Times, 10/31/44, p. 18).

United States--Officials & employees; Occupations; Ault, Harry E. B.--Birthdays;

Harry E. B. Ault celebrated his 61st birthday on October 30th. At the time this picture was taken, Mr. Ault was a deputy U.S. Marshal. Before being appointed deputy marshal he had led a very different life centering around labor, publishing and politics. Born in Kentucky in 1883, he grew up at Equality, one of the early co-operative colonies near Bellingham. In 1900, when only seventeen, he edited "Industrial Freedom". By 1903 he was associate editor of the Seattle paper "The Socialist". He went on to edite the "Daily Union Record", and in 1936 ran against Warren G. Magnuson for congress. Harry Ault died January 5, 1961 at the age of 77.(T. Times, 10/31/44, p. 18).

United States--Officials & employees; Ault, Harry E. B.--Birthdays; Socialist Party (Washington);

In June of 1942, Mary Rathfon (left) and Elizabeth Morris posed with a poster encouraging employees of the Internal Revenue Department to sign up for Payroll deductions to purchase war savings bonds. "Let's hit the bull's eye! Everybody. Every Payday. At Least 10%." Miss Rathfon holds an allotment card. Lots of those cards were filled out at the IRS office at the downtown Post Office; sign ups totalled 94.9 percent. (T. Times 6/5/1942, pg. 2)

War bonds & funds--Tacoma--1940-1950; Internal Revenue Service (Tacoma); Targets (Sports); Arrows; Posters; Rathfon, Mary; Morris, Elizabeth;

ca. 1937. Sentencing of Stanley G. Morrison, Tacoma broker tried for mail fraud, 1937. Three men standing in the doorway to the Federal Building. Mr. Morrison would be sentenced to a five-year term for using the mails to defraud. He would be released on parole from McNeil Island federal penitentiary after serving three years. He then would be tried in Superior Court on 11 counts of fraud in 1941. (T.Times 10-14-41, p. 1)

Crimes--Tacoma; Morrison, Stanley G.--Trials, litigation, etc.;

ca. 1937. Sentencing of Stanley G. Morrison, Tacoma broker tried for mail fraud, 1937. Mr. Morrison would be sentenced to a five-year term for using the mails to defraud. He would be released on parole from McNeil Island federal penitentiary after serving three years. He then would be tried in Superior Court on 11 counts of fraud in 1941. (T.Times 10-14-41, p. 1)

Crimes--Tacoma; Morrison, Stanley G.--Trials, litigation, etc.;

Margaret Waley, in a checked coat, exits the Federal Building surrounded by agents and reporters after being arraigned for kidnapping and extortion in the abduction of nine year old George Weyerhaeuser. Margaret and her husband Harman pled "not guilty" despite their admission of guilt and surrender of their remaining half of the ransom. They implicated William Dainard, known to the couple as Wm. Mahan, as the "mastermind" of the crime in order to receive a lesser sentence. (T. Times 06/13/1935, pg. 1 plus succeeding days)

Kidnappings--Tacoma--1930-1940; Waley, Margaret; Weyerhaeuser, George H.--Kidnappings;

On June 12, 1935 at 6:35p.m., Harman and Margaret Waley arrive at the Federal Building for arraignment on the charges of kidnapping and extortion in the abduction of George Weyerhaeuser. The pair are sped from Tacoma Field to the Federal Building in a convoy of four federal vehicles. They are surrounded by seven Federal agents and a crowd of about 50 spectators. Many of the spectators are newsmen, and the flash of bulbs lights up the evening. They are escorted to the federal court room on the 3rd floor of the Post Office building where they plead "not guilty." Original photograph (series 2700, image 54A) enlarged & cropped to make it more visually interesting for the newspaper. (T. Times 06/13/1935, pg. 1 plus succeeding days)

Kidnappings--Tacoma--1930-1940; Waley, Harman; Waley, Margaret; Weyerhaeuser, George H.--Kidnappings;

On June 12, 1935 at 6:35p.m., Harman and Margaret Waley arrive at the Federal Building for arraignment on the charges of kidnapping and extortion in the abduction of George Weyerhaeuser. The pair are sped from Tacoma Field to the Federal Building in a convoy of four federal vehicles. They are surrounded by seven Federal agents and a crowd of about 50 spectators. Many of the spectators are newsmen, and the flash of bulbs lights up the evening. They are escorted to the federal court room on the 3rd floor of the Post Office building where they plead "not guilty." (T. Times 06/13/1935, pg. 1 plus succeeding days)

Kidnappings--Tacoma--1930-1940; Waley, Harman; Waley, Margaret; Weyerhaeuser, George H.--Kidnappings;

ca. 1926. Internal Revenue Class in front of Tacoma Federal Building, designed by the United States Treasury Department, James Knox Taylor, Supervising Architect. (Argentum)

Internal Revenue Service (Tacoma)--1920-1930; Federal Building (Tacoma);

In November of 1948, Mary Rowland (left) and Cathey McCoun went to the main Tacoma post office in the Federal Building at 1102 A St. to buy the newly issued Juliette Gordon Low commemorative stamps. The stamp was the first ever issued honoring the founder of the Girl Scouts. Postal clerk Rodney E. Gadd showed Cathey a full sheet of stamps with Julliette Low's portrait and the caption "Founder of the Girl Scouts" . (T. Times, 11/16/48, p. 7).

Uniforms; Girl Scouts (Tacoma); Post offices--Tacoma; Postal service--Tacoma; Signs (Notices); Postal service employees--Tacoma; Postal service rates; Postage stamps; Rowland, Mary; McCoun, Cathey; Gadd, Rodney E.;

In this photograph from December 1948, John Owens lifts a sack of mail over his head and adds it to the growing stack of pre-sorted mail that was ready to be delivered.The Tacoma Post Office expected to be sending out over 700,000 letters a day by December 25th, and to receive twice that number. The Post Offices throughout the country were going through their busiest time of the year. Interior view of the U. S. Post Office's parcel post station located at 1102 Pacific Avenue. (T. Times, 12/12/48, p. 1).

Postal service employees--Tacoma; Correspondence; Letters to Santa Claus; Christmas--Tacoma; Packaging; Shipping--Tacoma; Christmas presents; Postal service--Tacoma; United States Post Office (Tacoma);

The weeks just before Christmas are always the busiest time of the year at Tacoma's U.S. Post Offices. In December of 1948 the parcel post station at 1102 A Street was packed with carts, sacks of mail, and boxes, including several containing live baby chicks. Attempting to maintain some kind of order in the apparent chaos are, in no particular order, Frank N. Carbone, Ralph Cole, Lee Polkinghorn, Joseph Pawelak, Ben Arnett, John Norris, Marshall Dorfner, Carl Berger, Allen Crary, Carl Sharpe and Ockey McDougal. (T. Times, 12/12/48, p. 1). TPL-8103,

Postal service employees--Tacoma; Correspondence; Letters to Santa Claus; Christmas--Tacoma; Packaging; Shipping--Tacoma; Christmas presents; Postal service--Tacoma; United States Post Office (Tacoma);

An unidentified postal worker with a Navy tattoo is sorting the mail at the main U.S. Post Office at 1102 A Street in December of 1948. The bins are already piled high and it is not yet the peak of the holiday season. The Tacoma Post Office expected to increase the number of postal employees from 475 to nearly 1,000 during the busy Christmas season. Typically about 200,000 letters were handled daily but this would increase to about 700,000 letters daily at the peak of the holiday season. By the peak of the holiday mailing season, roughly December 17th, incoming mail would exceed outgoing mail by at least two to one. (T. Times, 12/12/48, p. 1+ -article).

Postal service employees--Tacoma--1940-1950; Correspondence; Letters to Santa Claus; Christmas--Tacoma; Packaging; Shipping--Tacoma--1940-1950; Christmas presents; Postal service--Tacoma--1940-1950; United States Post Office (Tacoma);

The Liberty Bell came to rest at its reviewing area at the front of the Federal Building at 1102 A St on July 14, 1915. For two and a half hours, it was on display for the citizens of Tacoma. The bell, which rang for the Continental Congress's adoption of the Declaration of Independence, was slowly making its way cross country from Philadelphia to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Over 20,000 people crowded for a glimpse of the bell while it was in Tacoma. (TDL 7/14/1915, pg. 1) TPL-019 (photograph courtesy of Sherrill Erb)

Liberty Bell--Celebrations--1910-1920;

This view of Tacoma's Federal Building, 1102 A Street, which is home to the Main Branch of the U. S. Post Office, is from the corner of So. 12th and A St. The Federal Building, built to house the Federal courts and the main post office in Tacoma, was formally dedicated in July of 1910 after years of delays and construction problems. The initial plans for the building were shown to the public in 1906, but the foundation was not started until September, 1908. In May of 1929, shortly after this photograph was taken, the 12th Street entrance was remodeled to provide a parcel post room . The Federal courts moved out of the building to their new home at the Union Depot in 1992.

Federal Building (Tacoma);