The Quiet 'Giant' Arrested for Saving Pictures
A man of enormous stature was taken into custody after wandering through downtown Seattle, 'saving' people and art by touch.
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.
J. D. Broberg, a rancher from the Skagit, was arrested at Second and Main streets after he was observed acting in a way that suggested mental illness. He walked into the corridor of the Seattle theater and turned paintings to the wall, claiming they were 'saved,' and made motions over passersby on the street to declare them 'saved' as well. Broberg was of great stature and strength, though he remained quiet and was not violent. He was brought to the police station without resistance. He had lived at the Eureka lodging house on Main Street since February 17, where he was known as a quiet man who kept to himself.
“He went up behind some people on the street, and making motions over their heads, he announced that they, too, were 'saved.'”
While the police account uses the medical terminology of the era, it captures a human story of mental health crisis in a boarding-house district. This report offers a rare, albeit unsympathetic, glimpse into the life of a transient worker in 1890s Pioneer Square, a neighborhood that has been the center of support and struggle for the city's vulnerable populations for over a century.
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