Assault at the Denny School
A school janitor is left insensible after confronting a group of teenagers for loitering and smoking on the schoolhouse porch.
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. L. Melvin, janitor of the Denny school in North Seattle, was knocked insensible last night about 8 o'clock by a young man who, with three girls, had taken possession of one of the porches. During the afternoon, Mr. Melvin had a sharp argument with the young man about smoking cigarettes on the steps and porches. In the evening, the janitor went out to drive them away. Instead of complying, the young man walked up to Mr. Melvin, and after a few remarks, knocked him down and kicked him. The young fellow and the girls ran away, leaving Mr. Melvin insensible. He was assisted to his rooms by his wife, son, and a neighbor. For more than an hour he remained in a dazed condition and suffered a severe chill. Mr. Melvin believes he would be able to identify the man; he described him as short, thick-set and well-dressed.
“The janitor says the young fellow replied in an insulting manner but eventually went away.”
Conflicts between 'youth loitering' and property oversight are a staple of civic history; the Denny School site remains a significant, though changed, piece of Seattle's educational infrastructure.
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