City Officials Expel 'Madame Pattie'
A palmist working out of a lodging house is ousted following allegations of involvement in illicit activities.
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.
Lena Moore, alias Madame Pattie, who holds forth as a palmist and card reader at the Central lodging house, has been ordered out of town by the city officials. Madame Pattie is the woman whom Mrs. Bessie Rhodes, who was picked up on the street a few days ago in a fainting condition, accuses of having attempted to induce her to be an inmate of a house of ill fame. Mrs. Rhodes has since been taken to the county poor house.
“Lena Moore, alias Madame Pattie... has been ordered out of town by the city officials.”
This story reflects the era's 'moral reform' policing, where vulnerable women were often forcibly displaced under the guise of civic morality. The mention of the 'county poor house' underscores the harsh safety net for those who fell through the cracks of the city's social order at the turn of the century.
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