The San Francisco call., 1908-05-14
VANDAL CASTS INK
ON COSTLY GOWNS
Many Women Mourn Dresses
Ruined by UnsightIy
Black BIOtches
Invades Sailors Ball and Even
in Daylight Hurls Fluid on
Well Dressed Women

! Singing only the best dressed women
terious vandal has been leaving behind
him on Van Ness avenue and Fillmore
street path of destruction marked
with scores of beautiful and costly
gowns, which have been covered with
! big splashes of black ink.
Since the arrival of the fleet, in par
ticular. the ink thrower has been act
i've. Tuesday night he even invaded
the hall where the sailors ball was be-
| ing held, with scores of daintily dressed
society women on the floor. In at least
six instances reported to the police
! dresses were ruined there, and nearly a
dozen other complaints have been made.
Despite the efforts of several detectives
who have been assigned to running
down the fellow, he has continued his
pernicious work almost under their
very eyes.
/ SPATTERS THEATER GOERS
Saturday night returning theater
! goers on Van Ness avenue were the
sufferers. Evidently walking down the
! sidewalk with a small squirtgun or
pistol filled with ink. concealed in his
hand, the yandal cunningly waited until
some well gowned woman had passed
the back and side of her dress Every
/ fashionable cleaning and dyeing estab-
lishment in town for more than a week
! has been overrun with queries from
anxious women to whether their
clothes were irretrievably ruined.
The only remedy for the mischief.
say the dyers, is to dye the goods, for
the ink will not wash out, and dresses
of light material, of filmy costly fabric,
4 har CO y,
distress has been caused to the women
that many are almost afraid to venture
down town even in the daytime, for
! fear that their costumes will be spat-
tered with the ink
Among those who have suffered dam
age to their gowns are said to be Mrs.
Pauline Hirsch of 249S Broadway, Mrs.
| Mrs. E. r. LilienthaI and Mrs. Leon
Levin. Another is said to be Mrs.
! D. NJ. Davidson, whose husband is man
ager of D. NJ. Davidson & Co.
COSTLY GOWN RUINED
Mrs. Hirsch's gown, a costly pattern
! in light tan. was so covered with ink
Saturday night that it looked as though
the fluid had been poured on 1t. A
waist, trimmed in expensive lace, was
also damaged.
I think the person who does the ink
throwing must be demented,p said Mrs.
Hirsch. My own dress was so bespat-
tered with ink that it was practically
ruined. 1 had just left Fillmore
street car at Eddy and the sidewalk
| was crowded. The ink was thrown
! from somewhere in the crowd, but ]
| didn't notice it until afterward.
There was one man in the crowd
who kept looking at me and giggling In
an idiotic manner. 1 think he was the
vandal. I would certainly know him
| IL ever 1 saw him again. for he had q
perfectly silly and demented look on
his face He was light in complexion,
/ had light hair, was smooth shaven and
about 35 years old, so far as L can re-
member. This ink throwing is perfectly
dreadful"
GOWN RUINED IN DAYLIGHT -
Mrs. Crothers' dress, rose colored
silk, was of an exclusive Paris fashion
and very costly. 1t was irreparably
damaged
The ink was thrown at me on Van
/ Ness avenue in broad daylight some
time Wednesday afternoon" said Mrs.
Crothers. Since then / have heard of
several ,bther women whose dresses
have suffered in the same manner. The
police should do something to put a
! stop to IT, for one is almost afraid to
| venture out"
The ink thrower appears to have a
peculiar aversion to light dresses, for
it Is against them that his spite has
| been most often manifested. At one
cleaning establishment in Van Ness
! avenue, within n week more than a
dozen women have brought in white
| dresses which were spotted with black.
At four other places the experiences