The Unlucky Lodging House Keeper
A woman attempts to rebuild her life at a Seattle lodging house after her husband's attempted murder-suicide leaves her scarred, only to find herself the target of another man's duplicity.
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.
Mrs. Kleinschmidt was yesterday granted an absolute divorce from her husband, Janet Kleinschmidt, by Chief Justice Jones. The parties married in this city in May, 1885. The court finds that during the whole time of their married life the plaintiff was a kind, faithful, and affectionate wife, and faithfully did the duties of the relation. Yet, on August 10, 1887, her husband attempted to murder his wife, subsequently shooting himself. Mrs. Kleinschmidt suffered from the wounds inflicted by her husband, but he had failed to kill her. She eventually recovered and moved to Seattle, where she purchased the Invista lodging house on Main Street. She was later approached by a man named Herbert Harcourt, who professed love and promised to marry her once she was free. After she sold her property to prepare for their future, Harcourt—having collected money from her—left for Spokane, leaving her behind. Mrs. Kleinschmidt, speaking of her ordeal, said: 'I thought the world of him, but I thank God he did not marry me if he is that kind of a man.'
“I thought the world of him, but I thank God he did not marry me if he is that kind of a man.”
This story highlights the precarity of women in late 19th-century Seattle, where divorce was a court-ordered rarity and business survival depended on navigating predatory men. The 'lodging house' mentioned is a precursor to Seattle’s long-standing, ongoing struggles with housing affordability and the exploitation of those operating boarding houses.
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