Dragged From Her Company House: A Tenant Sues the Coal Company
Maria May says Oregon Improvement Company agents broke into her Franklin home, beat her, and threw her out half-clothed in 1891. She is asking for $15,000.
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.
The Oregon Improvement Company has been made defendant in an action for $15,000 damages, brought by Maria May, one of several persons ejected from the company's houses at Franklin in September 1891. The plaintiff charges that the company's agents unlawfully broke into her house, assaulted and beat her, and dragged her out of doors insufficiently clad. She alleges that she was in a delicate condition of health at the time, and she claims that the treatment she received caused her to be confined to her bed for a long time, and she is still suffering from its effects. She was put to an expense for physicians' and nurses' fees. She claims to have endured great mental anguish and suffering by reason of the manner in which she was treated, and for this she wants $15,000 damages.
“The company's agents unlawfully broke into her house, assaulted and beat her and dragged her out of doors, insufficiently clad.”
Franklin was a company coal town in King County, where the Oregon Improvement Company owned the mines and the houses. The allegation that a landlord's agents forced a sick tenant into the street is a reminder that eviction has long been a weapon of economic discipline. Seattle's current tenant fights over just-cause eviction and rent still echo that power imbalance.
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