The Escape from Humboldt Street
A young woman fleeing a Victoria brothel tells her story to Seattle police after a daring cross-border escape.
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.
Miss May Rogers, a young woman, sat in the Seattle police station awaiting word from Victoria concerning a charge upon which she had been arrested. She had traveled to Victoria from Portland three months prior and became an inmate of Miss Rey Clifton's house at 16 Humboldt Street. She claimed Miss Clifton kept her in a state of debt and misery, closely monitoring her actions and forcing her to wear clothes she did not want. Last Thursday evening, while Miss Clifton's attention was diverted, Miss Rogers packed her trunk and boarded the steamer Kingston bound for Seattle. Miss Clifton subsequently contacted police, alleging that Rogers had stolen dresses. When asked about the debt, Rogers told reporters, 'I owe Miss Rey $30, and would not have left her only she treated me so meanly. I don't know what she can do in this matter, but I am sure she can't get me back to her house. I am going to my home in Portland as soon as I hear from Victoria.'
“I owe Miss Rey $30, and would not have left her only she treated me so meanly. I am sure she can't get me back to her house.”
This account captures the grim reality of the 'white slavery' narrative of the 1890s, where movement and labor were often controlled through debt bondage. While the term was used sensationally in the press of the time, the struggle of women navigating coerced labor in the sex trade remains a part of Seattle’s complex history with regional vice districts.
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