Domestic Chaos at Mill and Front Streets
A volatile dispute between a couple on the streets of Seattle leads to a public brawl and a day in court.
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.
Quite a sensation was created on the corner of Mill and Front streets last evening by a woman assaulting a man. The facts seem to be as follows: Some time since, a Frenchman named 'Shelton' went to board at the Brunswick Restaurant and took a room at the lodging house corner of Second and Cherry streets. Several nights ago, a woman, claiming to be Shelton's wife, called at the house at a late hour and kicked up a terrible disturbance and abused her husband quite soundly. An attorney named McRoberts complained about it to Judge Lyon, claiming that the woman terrified the lodgers in the house. The night before last, she showed up there again and repeated the performance, and Mr. McRoberts swore out a warrant for her arrest. She evaded the officers until about dark last evening, when she met her husband on the street and struck him in the face. The little fracas attracted a crowd. The woman ran for safety but was apprehended by Constable Van Doren, who brought her under arrest and just before Judge Lyon. She was touched, and accused her husband of all sorts of irregularities, and claimed that he had torn up their marriage contract and was now trying to get rid of her. Shelton stated that he was never married to the woman, but had lived with her, that she was a 'terror,' and he wanted nothing more to do with her. The Justice released the woman on her own recognizance to appear in Court at 10 o'clock this morning.
“Shelton stated that he was never married to the woman, but had lived with her, that she was a 'terror,' and he wanted nothing more to do with her.”
This 1885 street scene highlights the perennial volatility of housing and domestic instability in Seattle. Today, the corner of Mill (Yesler Way) and Front (First Avenue) remains a central urban hub, though the 'lodging houses' and 'restaurants' of the 1880s have been replaced by the high-rise commercial structures that define the modern Pioneer Square district.
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