The Midnight Raid at the Fourth Avenue 'Rooming House'
When local authorities descended on a house on Fourth Avenue, they found four women they deemed 'disorderly'—a snapshot of 19th-century policing of women's lives in Seattle.
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.
Minnie Adams and Mrs. Viella Seabrook, with two other women, were arrested in Seattle yesterday and brought to this city. The individuals were arraigned in the police court this morning, where they were each held to the bail of $50 to await the action of the grand jury. The arrests followed a visit by the police to a place on Fourth Avenue which has been the subject of considerable talk and notoriety. Officers Crowley and Mulkey executed the raid, which led to the discovery of these women, who were charged with disorderly conduct.
“The arrests followed a visit by the police to a place on Fourth Avenue which has been the subject of considerable talk and notoriety.”
This arrest is a stark reminder of how 'disorderly conduct' statutes were historically weaponized to police women’s movement and autonomy in Seattle. While the specific legal language has evolved, the use of municipal policing to target people residing in boarding houses or precarious housing remains a persistent theme in the city's approach to housing and public space.
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