The Deadly Gift Sent to the Melodeon
A scorned woman in Seattle finds herself the target of a sophisticated homemade bomb disguised as a gift.
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.
On Saturday evening last, a woman named Mrs. William G. Lester, who a few weeks ago abandoned her husband and secured an engagement at an underground melodeon at the corner of Pine and Kearney streets, under the name of Jennie Conners, received a package wrapped neatly in tissue paper from a boy messenger. At the time she was in a private box with three or four other persons, and thinking it was a gift from some friend, proceeded to open it. The tissue paper removed, a small box about six inches long and three in width was revealed. It had a sliding cover, and she attempted to pull it off. She found some difficulty in doing it, and one of the men present examined it. Discovering some powder in the box, he pressed open the side of it and removed the cover carefully. The box was divided into two compartments, one of which was filled with powder and bits of nails. In the other was a piece of sand paper, so arranged that when the cover was pulled open some matches fixed in it would ignite and set fire to a quantity of loose tissue paper, from which it would lead to the powder explosion. The detectives searched the rooms of the woman’s estranged husband and found candle pieces corresponding to others found in the box, along with paper and cloth of the same quality. The husband was placed under arrest.
“Discovering some powder in the box, he pressed open the side of it and removed the cover carefully. The box was divided into two compartments, one of which was filled with powder and bits of nails.”
This 1878 report of a targeted explosive device delivery serves as a grim reminder that 'domestic disputes' manifesting in public spaces have been a part of Seattle’s darker history for over a century. The use of elaborate, improvised traps in the city’s early nightlife districts foreshadows the complicated intersections of domestic violence and public safety that cities still grapple with today.
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