Midnight Intruder Attacks Woman on Penawawa Creek
An unknown assailant chokes a woman in her bed, but flees after she calls for help.
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.
A mysterious assault was made upon Mrs. Moses Saxon at her home on Penawawa creek during Friday night. She was awakened from her sleep by a heavy hand laid upon her throat and a remark that 'I've got you now.' She saw in the dim light her assailant reaching to a breast pocket as if for a knife. Mrs. Saxon wrenched loose from his grasp, screamed, and her son St. Clair rushed down to her aid, but the man had disappeared. Mrs. Saxon believes the man stepped back and fled because her voice revealed she was not the person he intended to attack. Mrs. Marion Saxon, sleeping upstairs, reported hearing someone moving in her room just minutes before. Sheriff Canutt and Deputy Steward visited the scene, but found no clues.
“It is evident that had she not loosened herself from the grasp upon her throat the villain would have murdered her.”
This 1900 home invasion report details the vulnerability of rural families in remote areas. It highlights the role of local law enforcement in the days before modern forensic science, where unsolved crimes were frequently reported as 'mysteries.'
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