A Close Call for a Young Girl
A man is held for trial after attempting to assault a girl at his cabin near the foot of Pike Street.
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.
P. J. Burgmann, who was accused of criminal assault on Carrie M. Shank, was given a preliminary hearing yesterday afternoon before Justice Caldwell. The evidence showed that Burgmann was in the habit of taking little girls to his cabin at or near the foot of Pike Street and firms them small sums of money. On the particular occasion, when it is alleged that he acted improperly with the little Shank girl, he took her into his room and attempted to assault her, but released her on the appearance of Lena Kuntz, who had gone to the cabin to look for her friend. Justice Caldwell thought that facts submitted showed assault with intent to commit rape rather than rape, as charged. Burgmann was held to the superior court in $1,000 bonds, in default of which he was committed.
“Burgmann was in the habit of taking little girls to his cabin at or near the foot of Pike Street and giving them small sums of money.”
This case highlights the vulnerability of children in the city's unregulated urban spaces of the 1890s. The 'foot of Pike Street' was then a waterfront industrial zone; today, it is the heart of the Pike Place Market district, a landmark that has completely transformed from a site of danger to a global civic center.
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