A Soup Kitchen Brawl
Two cooks at the Poodle Dog restaurant settle a professional dispute with knives and dinnerware.
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.
John Radonovict and Frank Boeulict, both Sicilian cooks employed at the Poodle Dog restaurant on Second street, agreed to disagree over the manner of making soup for dinner yesterday and came to blows. One of them, getting the worst of it, seized a carving knife and slashed his opponent over the head, cutting him until the blood flowed freely. Not to be outdone, the other cook grabbed a knife and then both men went at it. The waiters shouted for the police, and when Officer Nick Long arrived in the kitchen, both men were weak and dinner plates, roast chicken, rolling-pins, and sirloin steaks were floating recklessly about in the atmosphere. The officer was forced to use his revolver to quell the disturbance. Both cooks were taken to Kellogg Bros.' drug store, and when the blood had been washed away and their gaping wounds sewed up and bandaged, they were marched to the police court. Though they begged to be let off, Judge Rivers fined them $10 each for fighting. They paid their fines, shook hands, and left the courtroom arm in arm, as if they had always been the best of friends.
“Both men were weak and dinner plates, roast chicken, rolling-pins and sirloin steaks were floating recklessly about in the atmosphere.”
While the Poodle Dog is long gone, the high-pressure environment of restaurant kitchens remains a classic, volatile setting for workplace friction. The quick resolution of their feud in court reflects the rough-and-tumble nature of frontier justice in a rapidly growing Seattle.
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