The Tragedy of ‘Pike Street Em’
A teenage girl faces state intervention after authorities decide she is 'running wild' on Seattle streets.
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.
Emma Bittner, aged 15 years, and who is known as ‘Pike street Em,’ was taken in charge by Chief of Police Jackson last night at the request of some person whose name the chief refuses to make public. The young girl, who has been living at the Luther house, on Front street, and is quite good looking, was indignant at finding herself at the police station. She made a bold stand, asserting that she lived on money derived from the estate of her father, August Bittner, who died about two years ago at Sidney. When the chief mentioned the House of the Good Shepherd as a good place for wayward girls she broke down and cried, but soon regained her composure and replied that if she was sent there she would break her neck. The chief will bring the matter before Judge Glasgow this morning, stating that she has run wild in this city and Snohomish since her father's death, and for her own sake a term in the House of the Good Shepherd will do her good. While the chief refuses to talk on the matter there is no doubt that the relatives of the girl are the ones who desire to save her from the streets.
“When the chief mentioned the House of the Good Shepherd as a good place for wayward girls she broke down and cried, but soon regained her composure and replied that if she was sent there she would break her neck.”
This reflects the paternalistic and carceral approach the city took toward wayward youth in the 1890s, using institutions like the House of the Good Shepherd to police young women’s behavior. The tension between the girl’s desire for autonomy and the state’s 'protection' of her morality is a recurring theme in urban history.
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