The Landlord Who Stole the Doors
A landlord attempts to evict an 'unwelcome tenant' by physically removing the doors and windows from the residence.
The afternoon was occupied in hearing the evidence in the case of James Kurtz vs. Frederick Wilhelm. This action is founded upon a claim for damages sustained by Kurtz and his family by reason of the action of Wilhelm in removing the doors and windows of the house in which the plaintiff resided. The house was the property of the defendant, and it seems that he took this means of ridding himself of an unwelcome tenant. The damages are set at $1,000.
“It seems that he took this means of ridding himself of an unwelcome tenant.”
Extra-legal evictions—stripping a home of its basic components to force a tenant out—remains a extreme, yet periodically recurring, tactic in the history of landlord-tenant disputes. This 1883 case serves as a blunt reminder of the power dynamics inherent in rental housing long before modern tenant protections were established.
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