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Mary Sweeny

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For other people with similar names, see Mary Sweeney.
Mary Sweeny Newspaper Article - Ann Arbor Argus - March 26, 1897
Mary Sweeny Newspaper Article - Ann Arbor Argus  - March 26, 1897 [1]

Mary Sweeny, also known by the first names Maria, Marie, Marion, Mollie, Margaret, Harriet, Anna, Annie or Kit, and by the last names Sweeney, Ricks, Rix, Kelley, Beece, O'Brien, Haley and Anderson,[1][2][3][4][5] was an American woman known as "the Window Smasher" because of her mania for breaking glass windows across Wisconsin and neighbouring states during the 1890s.

She achieved cultural notoriety in Michael Lesy's 1973 book Wisconsin Death Trip and later in James Marsh's docudrama of the same title. Mary Sweeny was portrayed in the film by actress Jo Vukelich.[6]

Life

[edit]

Sweeny's name, date and place of birth are uncertain. According to some reports, she was born and lived in Saint Paul, Minnesota, while others state that she was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, circa 1858,[5] 1859[4] or 1862.[7][8] In 1882, she was reported to have stolen a dress from the woman she worked for,[9] and by late 1885, she had already been committed to and released from a hospital for the insane.[10][11] She claimed to be the wife of a St. Paul druggist named E.J. Ricks[7] or E.J. Haley.[2] She reportedly worked at one time as a teacher at Stevens Point,[6][3] and was a great wife and mother of two.[12] An injury to her brain caused her to change,[12] as a result of which she ran away from home in about 1890,[12] and traveled around northern Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Montana, breaking windows.[12][13][14][15][16]

Notoriety

[edit]

One cause of her window breaking sprees was reported to be drinking;[8][17] it was also noted that she was seeking vengeance against medical doctors.[1][2][18] She is said to have used cocaine to self-medicate because "it quiets her nerves".[19] She was quoted as liking "to hear the glass jingle".[2][20][21] She broke windows of shops and trains using anything to hand, including stones,[22][23][24] sticks of wood,[24][25] or a satchel.[26][27] Authorities dealt with her by arresting and jailing her,[12][13][16][23][26][28][29][30] hospitalising her,[22][29][31] committing her to insane asylums,[12][13][21] and paying for her rail travel to another town.[13][20][23][24][31] She boasted that she would quickly escape from hospitals and asylums,[22] and succeeded several times.[12] Her sanity was assessed by doctors, who declared her sane,[29] or as one newspaper stated, "She appears to be perfectly rational on all subjects except that of window smashing".[31] She did not know why she broke windows but did it only "when the craze seized her."[6]

Her window breaking also brought her to the attention of then Wisconsin governor Edward Scofield.[6][13][32] She was committed to the Mendota Asylum for the Insane on July 19, 1897, but was released within a few years.[33] She then reportedly married a man named Anderson in North Dakota, with whom she had a child,[33][34] but claimed that he deserted her after learning that she had been in an asylum.[34]

While it was reported that in 1903, Sweeny was still showing a desire to break windows,[15] by 1904, she was described as having "an uncontrollable desire for roving about the country,"[15] so "plays her role of a window-smasher" in order to get free train travel.[15][16] By 1906, it was reported that "for several years [she] has not engaged in the plate glass business",[35] though she still traveled constantly.[35] In 1907, several newspapers announced Sweeny's death,[17][36][37] but in January 1908 one paper reported that she was in Ashland, Wisconsin.[17] In 1912, she was reported to be in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and was threatening to break windows in revenge for her twelve-year-old son having been committed to a home.[4]

In 1925, she was reported to be searching for her son, who, during World War I, had enlisted and been gassed, and was subsequently charged with desertion, jailed and paroled. In 1924, the son reportedly disappeared from his job in Detroit.[5]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "The Window Smasher". Chippewa Herald-Telegram. Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. 26 August 1894. p. 3. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d "The Window Smasher". The Saint Paul Globe. Saint Paul, Minnesota. 31 March 1892. p. 1. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Woman Tramp - Mary Sweeney, the Window Smasher, Goes to Jail". Chippewa Herald-Telegram. Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. 27 February 1897. p. 3. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  4. ^ a b c "Maria Sweeney Is Back In La Crosse. Noted Window Smasher Returns After Absence of Thirteen Years". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Green Bay, Wisconsin. Associated Press. 30 October 1912. p. 4. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  5. ^ a b c "Maria Sweeney Scours Nation; Seeks Lost Son". Stevens Point Journal. 22 September 1925. p. 5. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d "Historical Research Services - Mary Sweeney, the Wisconsin Window Smasher". wamboldresearch.com. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  7. ^ a b "A Refuge for Maria Sweeny". News-Record. Neenah, Wisconsin. 26 March 1895. p. 1. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  8. ^ a b "The Last of Maria". The Daily Telegram. Eau Claire, Wisconsin. 27 April 1897. p. 3. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  9. ^ "State News". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. 6 November 1882. p. 2. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  10. ^ "Here and There". The Stevens Point Journal. 19 September 1885. p. 5. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  11. ^ "County Government". The Stevens Point Journal. 2 January 1886. p. 9. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g "Still Breaking Windows". Montreal River Miner and Iron County Republican. Hurley, Wisconsin. 15 October 1892. p. 6. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  13. ^ a b c d e "Mary the Window Smasher". Ann Arbor Argus. 26 March 1897. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  14. ^ "Jottings About Town". Sioux City Journal. Sioux City, Iowa. 20 March 1896. p. 8. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  15. ^ a b c d "Woman Tramp is Kept Going Along". The Butte Miner. Butte, Montana. 19 July 1904. p. 4. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  16. ^ a b c Gores, Stan (17 March 1967). "Maria Sweeney Smash Hit in Fond-du-Lac, Elsewhere". Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter. Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. p. 4, S2. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  17. ^ a b c "Does Maria Still Live?". The Gazette. Stevens Point, Wisconsin. 22 January 1908. p. 1. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  18. ^ "The Smasher Again". The Oshkosh Northwestern. Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 22 April 1892. p. 5. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  19. ^ Lesy, Michael (2016-08-15). Wisconsin Death Trip. University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 9780826358400.
  20. ^ a b "Sweeny the Smasher". Appleton Post. Appleton, Wisconsin. 14 December 1893. p. 1. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  21. ^ a b "The Window-Smasher Here". Appleton Post. Appleton, Wisconsin. 6 December 1894. p. 5. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  22. ^ a b c "Mrs. Sweeney Again". The Oshkosh Northwestern. Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 14 July 1891. p. 4. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  23. ^ a b c "Mary Sweeny the "window-smasher"". The Neenah Daily Times. Neenah, Wisconsin. 16 March 1895. p. 5, col. 2, top. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  24. ^ a b c "Mary Sweeney Again". The Oshkosh Northwestern. Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 11 March 1895. p. 1. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  25. ^ "Around a Great State! Past, Present and Future Occurrences in Badgerdom". The Saturday Evening Press. Menasha, Wisconsin. 28 February 1891. p. 1. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  26. ^ a b "Town Talk". The Neenah Daily Times. Neenah, Wisconsin. 22 August 1893. p. 4. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  27. ^ "Two Celebrities - Fond du Lac Cages Mary Sweeney With Frankie Blunt". The Oshkosh Northwestern. Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 22 August 1893. p. 1. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  28. ^ "Window Smasher Arrested". Star Tribune. Minneapolis, Minnesota. 15 November 1893. p. 2. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  29. ^ a b c "Badger Brevities: Marion Ricks, or Maria Sweeney, the "Window Smasher"". The Weekly Wisconsin. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 11 November 1893. p. 3. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  30. ^ "Smashing Marie Rix". The Oshkosh Northwestern. Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 8 March 1892. p. 1. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  31. ^ a b c "Maria Again on Her Travels". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Green Bay, Wisconsin. 13 February 1894. p. 3. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  32. ^ "Governor Scofield Acts - Commitment of Mary Sweeny in an Asylum Ordered". The Weekly Herald. Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. 25 March 1897. p. 3. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  33. ^ a b "Mary Ricks Coming North - Woman Who Obtained Fame as a Window Breaker Helped Out of Town". Chippewa Herald-Telegram. Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. 31 August 1900. p. 3. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  34. ^ a b "Window-Smasher Didn't Stop". The Post-Crescent. Appleton, Wisconsin. 7 September 1900. p. 3. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  35. ^ a b "Mary Sweeny in Town". The Marshfield News and Wisconsin Hub. Marshfield, Wisconsin. 13 September 1906. p. 1. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  36. ^ "Death of Maria Sweeney". The Stevens Point Journal. Stevens Point, Wisconsin. 17 April 1907. p. 1.
  37. ^ "Maria Sweeney Passes Away". Chippewa Herald-Telegram. Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. 18 April 1907. p. 3. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
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