An Unwelcome Suitor at Terrace Street
A woman's attempt to return home was blocked by a man who refused to take 'no' for an answer, leading to a police intervention.
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.
Oscar Erickson, a teamster, was arrested yesterday afternoon by Officer Sheehan on the charge of assault and battery committed on the person of Annie Wood, a woman of middle age. Mrs. Wood visited Mr. and Mrs. Edward Bechel at their home, 415 Terrace Street, where Erickson rooms. When Mrs. Wood spoke about going home, Erickson, it is claimed, objected. At first, the occupants of the house thought he was in jest, but when he struck Mrs. Wood with his hat in order to prevent her going, it was seen that he was in earnest. Bechel told Erickson to get out of the house, but Erickson refused, whereupon Officer Sheehan was called. Mrs. Bechel thought the trouble was due to the fact that Mrs. Wood gave Erickson the 'mitten' a short time ago.
“When Mrs. Wood spoke about going home, Erickson, it is claimed, objected. At first, the occupants of the house thought he was in jest, but when he struck Mrs. Wood with his hat in order to prevent her going, it was seen that he was in earnest.”
This incident of harassment in a boarding house at the corner of 4th and Terrace—a neighborhood long since transformed—remains a recognizable, if sad, story of entitlement and the refusal to accept personal boundaries. The language of 'the mitten' highlights how public the private social lives of working-class Seattle residents were treated in the press.
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