Wednesday, Oct. 15, 1952
Minneapolis Morning Tribune

A woman could get a job as a “store detective” in Minneapolis in the early 1950s. But whoever filed this report for the Minneapolis Morning Tribune didn’t think much of the idea.

As Purses Go,
She Should Have
Hit Him With It

A woman detective grappled with a shoplifter Tuesday and lost partly because of a feminine trait.

Mrs. Helen Gratton, store detective for Witt’s market, 705 Hennepin avenue, spotted a man taking some cold meat and cheeses.

She grabbed her purse and followed him, running up Sixth street to First avenue N., around the corner and into a parking lot.

Mrs. Gratton tried to arrest and handcuff the man. He said unpleasant things, grabbed her throat and tore her dress.

Mrs. Gratton dropped her purse and the contents spilled out. Woman like, she stooped and scooped up the items and the purse.

When she looked up the shoplifter had fled.

Witt’s Grocery & Deli, Seventh on Hennepin, Minneapolis, in about 1945. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)

The citizens of St. Paul have never been shy about confronting the City Council about threats to their quality of life. But it’s a mystery why the Minneapolis Star reporter who wrote this story didn’t ask what effect flying specks of sulphuric acid might have on human flesh.

Nylons Damaged,
St. Paul Women
Demand Action

Twenty irate office women appeared before the St. Paul city council today and demanded action.

They said their nylons have been damaged by soot in the city’s loop.

William Parranto, commissioner of public safety, explained that such soot falls from the chimney at Saint Paul hotel. The hotel, he said, burns a Wyoming oil which contains a liberal percentage of sulphur.

Smoke therefrom, he continued, contains specks of sulphuric acid, which burns holes in nylons.

Parranto said he will close the hotel heating plant in 30 days unless, in the meantime, the management installs machinery to collect the soot or otherwise corrects the condition.

The women seemed satisfied with the action.

Louis Maurer, superintendent of Mother’s Friend Laundry in St. Paul, helped load laundered silk stockings into a Salvation Army truck in 1943. Sixty-five years later, two questions: Why launder stockings and then donate them as scrap material? And since when did it take a superintendent to run a laundry? (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)

STRUCK BY STREETCAR

Harold H. Rice, 45, attorney with offices at 411 Andrus building, suffered head lacerations when struck by a streetcar Thursday at Fifth and Wabasha streets, St. Paul.

Boy, 5, Saves Sister
From Drowning

PLAINVIEW, MINN. – (AP) – Parents of Robert Kruger, 5, today credited their son with saving the life of his baby sister, Sharyn, after she had fallen into a livestock watering tank on their farm Wednesday.

The parents, Mr. and Mrs. Donald Kruger, said that Sharyn, 2, was sitting on the cover of the tank when she slipped and fell in.

They said that when Robert saw her fall, he grabbed her clothes and kept her head above water until the father arrived.

An anonymous headline writer at the Minneapolis Star showed poor form in stealing the pithy lede crafted by the anonymous reporter who pounded out the page one story below.

I’d love to learn more about the former boxer who starred in this stirring drama. Drop me a line if you have any information on her.

Masher Gets Mashed;
Seeks Safety in Jail
From Woman Boxer

‘Put Me Where She Can’t
Get at Me,’ Victim
Begs Police

The masher got mashed.

This particular masher, John Frederickson, 3036 University avenue S.E., is nursing 180 pounds of contusions and abrasions and lacerations in the city jail today and wondering what brand of luck led him to make [a move on] the sister-in-law of the former women’s featherweight boxing champion of the northwest.

Mrs. Michael Mickelson, 220 S. Seven and One half street, who six years ago was acclaimed as the champion of all women featherweight boxers in the northwest, went to a theater at Seven Corners with her 14-year-old sister-in-law, Inga Mickelson. Mrs. Mickelson, besides being a champion, is the wife of Patrolman Michael Mickelson of South Side police station.

When Mrs. Mickleson and her sister-in-law came out of the theater, they became separated. Suddenly, Mrs. Mickelson heard a scream. A man had accosted Inga near the theater. Mrs. Mickelson rushed to the scene, and although it has been six years since she has indulged in boxing, she swung a pretty right to the masher’s jaw.

He staggered and raced away, with the former champion at his heels. Years of roadwork and training came to her assistance and enabled her to keep up with the fleeing man.

At Fifteenth and Washington avenues S., he dodged into the lobby of a hotel. Mrs. Mickelson dashed after him and cornered him.

Masher Badly Pummeled

Meanwhile, Inga called police. When a squad of patrolmen reached the hotel, they found the 180-pound masher on the floor, his face mashed and bleeding, and writhing in agony, and the former woman featherweight champion standing victoriously over him.

“Thank the Lord you’ve come,” whimpered the masher when he spied the patrolmen. “Take me away from this woman right away. Put me in jail where she can’t get at me.”

This is the Seven Corners section of Minneapolis in about 1930. The Stone Arch Bridge is at top left; the 10th Avenue bridge, which opened in 1929, runs across the center of the photo. The new 35W bridge is now located between them. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)