The Saloon Stoop Feud
A corner clothing shop proprietor scores a court victory against a neighboring basement saloon's attempt to wall off the sidewalk.
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.
Judge Lichtenberg yesterday granted a permanent injunction in the case of Harry Hershberg against A. C. Miller, which was brought to prevent the building of an iron railing in front of the store window of the plaintiff. Hershberg is the proprietor of a clothing house in the Scheuerman block at the northeast corner of Front and Cherry streets, while Miller uses the basement of the building for a saloon. On the Cherry street side a flight of stone steps leads from the sidewalk down to the saloon door. Some months ago, Miller decided to erect an iron railing, leading to the top of the stairs and parallel to the side of the building. The end of it would project in front of Hershberg's show window, and when the workmen came there to put it up a very exciting scene occurred between them and the store proprietor. The mechanics were ordered away, but refused to go, and Hershberg attempted to make them. The matter was finally quieted down and the work stopped. The next day Hershberg was arrested and tried before Justice Von Tobel for flourishing a pistol, but was discharged. He brought suit in the superior court to enjoin Miller from building the railing, and yesterday a permanent injunction was granted.
“The end of it would project in front of Hershberg's show window, and when the workmen came there to put it up a very exciting scene occurred.”
Conflicts over sidewalk access, storefront sightlines, and neighborhood character remain a constant in Seattle's commercial corridors. While the pistol-brandishing days of the Scheuerman block are largely behind us, the tension between basement retail/nightlife and street-level business persists.
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