The Unruly Girl of Puyallup
A thirteen-year-old runaway from Seattle takes over a house in Puyallup, leaving authorities baffled and without a place to put her.
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.
Justice Reach of Puyallup came to the city today to learn from the authorities what to do with a young girl, aged about 13 years, who came to Puyallup from Seattle several days ago. The girl walked into a house in Puyallup and took complete possession, and when any person attempted to eject her, she threatened to kill them. At another time, she went to a store, purchased a large amount of dry goods, put them under her arm, and refused to pay for them. The parents of the girl cannot be found. Justice Reach consulted the prosecuting attorney and the county commissioners as to what disposition should be made of the unruly girl, and as there is no house of correction, it is altogether probable that she will be turned over to the sheriff. There are no symptoms of insanity.
“The girl walked into a house in Puyallup and took complete possession, and when any person attempted to eject her, she threatened to kill them.”
This report captures the extreme vulnerability of runaway youth in the late 19th century, when the state's only solution for non-criminal, 'unruly' behavior was often the local jail. Today, while we have better social safety nets, the challenge of supporting unhoused or wandering youth remains a persistent, critical gap in Washington's civic infrastructure.
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