A Late Night Window-Smashing 'Frolic' in Lake Union
A doctor residing near Lake Union is rattled when firewood is thrown through her window in the dead of night.
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.
Some person, probably in a mischievous frolic, threw two sticks of firewood at the house of Mrs. Sarah J. Dean, M. D., 717 Mary Street, near Lake Union, about 9:30 o'clock last night, scaring the occupants of the house and the whole neighborhood and breaking a window. Mrs. Dean was sitting by the center table in the sitting room, while Mrs. M. J. Carter sat with her back to the window. Suddenly there was a sound like a pistol and the house shook. Mrs. Carter jumped up, exclaiming 'I think someone must have shot at me.' All ran outdoors, but everything was quiet and no one in sight. They returned to the room and were quieting down, when another crash came and the glass from a broken window came flying across the room. The women thought a burglar was at work and called Mr. Dean out of bed and then telephoned for a policeman. Detective Cudshee investigated and concluded it was the result of a frolic with the intention of scaring the women, but unfortunately ended in the smashing of the window.
“Suddenly there was a sound like a pistol and the house shook.”
What is dismissed here as a 'mischievous frolic' targeting women at night reads with a much darker tone today. The incident captures the vulnerability of residents in 1891 and the police department's tendency to minimize harassment as youthful folly.
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