The Pike Street Rescue of Three 'Giddy' Girls
A 16-year-old from Victoria and two Seattle girls were pulled from saloon back rooms and lodging houses; one father got his daughter back.
Laura Jones, aged 16 years, and May Smith, aged 18, were arrested last night in a back room of the Eclipse saloon on Pike Street by Detective James Wells, and locked up at police headquarters pending a decision as to what is best to be done with such "giddy" girls.
When Detective Wells walked into the room, he found the girls in the company of two young men named Davis and Campbell. The former is a plumber and the latter a laundry wagon driver. The girls were taken before Chief Rogers and later placed in the care of Police Matron Taylor.
The Jones girl came here two weeks ago from Victoria and has been staying at the Juanita House on Pike Street, a place kept by a man named Bushman, formerly of Gilman. May Smith is a Seattle girl, but has also been at the Juanita House. Yesterday they changed their lodgings to the Rochester House on the same street, between Front and Second. The Eclipse saloon is kept by "Bode" Davis, who had such a time with "Carmille," alias Annie Mazingue, over a diamond valued at $1,100.
Wednesday night Officer Burkman took May Stevens, a girl aged 17 years, out of the Eclipse saloon on Pike Street and sent her to police headquarters. The arrest was made at the request of her father, who reported to Chief Rogers that his daughter was not in good company and that he would like to have her rescued. According to the story in the possession of the police, the girl has been acting as housekeeper at the Juanita House on Pike Street for two weeks and Wednesday night went out for a time. She met a young fellow named Davis and was in his company when placed under arrest. When taken to police headquarters she was slightly under the influence of liquor. Yesterday morning Chief Rogers brought the girl before him in his private office, where her father was waiting for her. She consented to return home, and on this condition the chief allowed her to have her freedom.
“He reported to Chief Rogers that his daughter was not in good company and that he would like to have her rescued.”
Pike Street's saloons and cheap lodgings were the era's nightlife district, and the case shows how young women on their own could be treated as both victims and offenders. Today the same corridor is a flashpoint over homelessness, policing and survival work—who gets rescued, and who gets arrested.
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