Jumped Out of a Window

On the second floor of a hotel but escpaed unharmed, And he thought someone was lying in wait and was going to rob him 

Eau Claire Weekly Telegram | Dec. 12, 1905

Eau Claire- A worthy young man named Clarence Hicks arrived here last night from St. Paul and put up at a North Side Hotel. It appears that he had been at a St. Paul hotel and that somebody broke into his room there, the result of being that he was suspicious and somewhat nervous withal. He went to bed at the hotel here last night but was awake when some men (late guests) came in and when upstairs to their rooms, which were near Hicks’. He heard their voiced, jumped to the conclusion that he was going to be burglarized again and them without more ado dressed himself and jumped out of the (second-story) window of his room. He hit the ground all right and was uninjured. He sped away, told his story to policeman Wolf and finally went to another hotel, secured a room and presumably slept soundly the rest for the night. This morning he went back to the hotel he had first stopped at, explained the situation and secured his baggage and left for Chippewa Falls on the 5 o’clock inter-urban electric.

 

Chad’s Take: Crime from the Twin Cities once again spills into Eau Claire

Like every other media outlet in the Chippewa Valley I could go on and on about how all the criminal activity in Eau Claire is caused by unscrupulous underworld characters from the Twin Cities.  So even though the man’s actions were caused by a St. Paul crime I would rather focus on the man’s strange overreaction to the situation. It seems that Mr. Hick’s thought that Eau Claire was just as unsafe as St. Paul, in fact he was so thrown off by his assumed attack that he immediately set off for the safety of Chippewa Falls. 

One of my favorite trends associated with this time period is how well-dressed everyone was. Look at any photograph from the era and you will notice that all the men are smartly dressed and the women are adorned in beautiful dresses. No one is running around in jogging pants, tank tops, or crocs, as they consider their fashion of dress an outward projection of their values, success, and social standing.  Even those with limited means took great care to look as presentable as possible. Knowing this, I still find it very interesting that the gentleman who feared his room was about to be raided by a gang of ruthless men still found the time to dress himself properly before jumping out of his second-story window. The dapper looking gentleman had no trouble finding another room in Eau Claire, because back then being well-dressed had its benefits.

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