A pile of slot machines awaits the sledgehammer of Chief Deputy Sheriff John Piper on October 9, 1929 at the county courthouse. These were a sample of the 39 slots ordered destroyed following seizure by county officers from various places of businesses in Pierce County. A total of $244.85 in nickels, dimes and quarters was taken from the machines. This amount, less $10 for trucking, was turned over to the county school fund. The machines, minus their cash, were taken to the waterfront and dumped into Commencement Bay. (TNT 10-10-29, p. 17) TPL-8466;

Pierce County Sheriff Tom Desmond stands next to the what is left of a $12,000 still at the County Courthouse on October 23, 1930. Somehow thieves managed to spirit away part of the still, a seven-foot contraption with twelve compartments and twelve faucets. The grain alcohol still, capable of producing 250 gallons of grain alcohol a day, was seized in a raid at Point Fosdick on October 18, 1930. It was put in a corridor of the courthouse near the entrance of the jail. The seven-foot part went missing on the night of the 20th. Consequently, two deputy sheriffs were fired for "gross carelessness." (TNT 10-23-30, p. 1)

ca. 1949. Called both a "wonder of the age" and "an architectural monstrosity" the old Pierce County Court House stood at 1012 South G Street just northeast of the Armory. Modeled after the courthouse in Pittsburgh, PA, the brick walls were faced with stone quarried in Tenino and sandstone from Wilkeson. Included in the building plans were secret stairways, hideouts, a hanging room and dungeons that would have done credit to a 15th century castle. The four clock faces in the tower were each 8 feet in diameter and had concealed lights which enabled Tacomans to read the time by day or night. The county commissioner moved his offices in the as yet unfinished building on June 21, 1893. It was demolished in 1959. (TNT 4/7/1959 p. C-16) Bowen # 1062-1