The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-09-02
A PRISONER OF WEIGHT.
500 Pound Colored Woman Causes
Chicago Police Much Trouble.

900 Pound Colored Woman Causes
Chicago Police Much Trouble.
Chicago, Sept. 2.-susan WinsIow,
colored, caused the police of Harrison
street station more trouble last night
than any prisoner they have had to
deal with in the last ten years. She
offered no resistance when arrested,
but the WOman's ponderOus weight was
the serious problem that confronted the
oIncers- She weighs 494 pounds, and
when told to get into the patrol wagon
she sat down on the sidewalk and
said:
"All right, I'm willing: go ahead and
put me in; Why doan yo' go ahead
and do yo'h duty?"
officer Matt Blackburn, who was in
charge of the wagon, tried to coax the
woman to arise She wouldn't bulge
an inch. A crowd began to gather and
the black woman was cheered.
Come on Sue, come on" said Black
burn, who got behind the colored wo-
man and tried to lift her. He might
as well have tried to lift a freight car.
Il amt making no resistance, Mr..
Blackburn she said, land dOan'
want yc' to tell de jedge in de mawnin'
dat I put up a fight. I'll go along peace
ably and quietly, like a lady, but yo've
got to lift me in dat troll wagon. Mr..
Blackburn, yO' know jest as well as 1
do dat I KANT stan on my feet. 1se
got heart disease, too, and de least bit
of zertion upsets me. Now yo' jest go
ahead and get dem plankS over at de
freight house and put dem up at de
back end of de troll wagon, so as can
walk up. If yO' dOan get dem plankS,
Mr.. Blackburn, you'll have to carry
me-"
Blackburn saw there was no use to
argue with the woman, and he got the
planIs as requested 1t took four police
men to assist the woman to her feet,
and then she slowly assembled the skid
or incline, into the, patrol wagon
On arriving at the police station an
fVnfnwr
If she were taken downstairs, as is the
custom with prisoners, she would not
be able to ascend the narrow, steep
stairway from the cell room to the floor
above, where the prisoners are "ba1led
OUT
Lieutenant Golden decided that she
be allowed to enter the station at the
main door and remain there until the
arrival of Justice Martin. No chair in
the station was large enough for her,
and she sat down on the steps leading
to the officers sleeping quarters on the
second floor. The steps are five feet
wide, and the woman's terrible load or
flesh bIoekaded the passage.
When she was released on bonds she
wanted Lieutenant Golden to have the
patrol wagon take her back home, but
Blackburn said he would not remove
her from the station even if he lost his
star in the morning.
A carriage was then called to take
the woman to her home, 539 clark
street The first jehu who came in an
swer to the call looked at the woman
and walked away.
''I'l not take you home, Sue" he
said. unless you first put up $50 The
last time you were in my rig you went
through the floor, and it cost me 81
to repair the wagon.
Another vehicle was called, and the
driver took the load of human freight
to her home The carriage top had to
be put back before she could enter.
Il dOan know what makes me so rat,
said the woman. Eight years ago
Weighed only 1876 pounds. I began to
fall into flesh, and I'm gettin' heavier
every day. I took about barrel OF dat
red1lcin' medicine, but it didn't do no
good. kept gettin' fatter all de time
The charge she will answer at the
armory court is that of being an access
sorry to larceny.