Tuesday, November 13, 2007

What the...?

I love looking at old newspapers on microfilm -- even though I'm looking for specific stories, I'm scrolling through hundreds of pages with fabulous ads and other, unrelated content. Sometimes a particular headline will catch my eye, and I'll read the story. The following is by far the most bizarre item I've come across in the Buffalo Evening News in the last two days:

       WEARING PINK HAT LEADS TO BEATING

       CHICAGO, Jan. 29 [1947] -- Mrs. Eleanor Webster, 41, sees red when she sees a pink hat, she said Tuesday.
       Mrs. Webster was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge on the complaint of Mrs. Sarah Warsaw, 46. Mrs. Warsaw said she was walking down a street Tuesday -- wearing a pink hat -- when Mrs. Webster, a total stranger, screamed her dislike for pink hats, knocked her down and began beating her.
       "I just don't like pink hats," Mrs. Webster told police.
       She was released under $75 bond pending a hearing.

17 comments:

La Cabeza Grande said...

WTF, indeed! That's just so...odd.

jodi said...

Jeepers. How did Bob Geldof fail to write a song about that one?

Maggie said...

Wow. In 1947 it only cost $75 to beat up someone in an ugly hat! Those were the days.

Nadia said...

Um... yeah. People are weird.

emilyoboe said...

i have some pink yarn for a beret...oddly enough, this totally makes me want to cast on!

Susan said...

Uh oh, I'm making a pink hat right now. I'd better give it to someone I don't like very much...

Jodi said...

Perhaps it was a raspberry beret?
****
She wore a
Raspberry beret
The kind u find in a second hand store
Raspberry beret
And if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more

Stacey said...

truly a "what the???????" moment after reading that!

Anonymous said...

as with Jodi, totally made me think of "I don't like Mondays."

awesome story. hilarious!

Anonymous said...

?!?

Thanks for sharing. Made my morning!

Anonymous said...

Ha! Proving that the "good old days" were just as weird and random as the present.

amanda said...

Funny, I have a similar reaction to purple hats.

;)

fillyjonk said...

I KNEW those "Red Hat Ladies" were really a street gang. I KNEW it and no one believed me. Now I have proof.

(Pleh. "Friends don't let friends wear red and purple together.")

Seanna Lea said...

I really dislike pink, but I would never go out of my way to beat someone up about it.

Unknown said...

Ah yes, the Red Hat Ladies, that Bluestockings splinter group.

I hear Buffalo winters will do that to people.

Anonymous said...

Finally. Historical evidence to support my loathing of pink hats and desire to rule the world through their expulsion.

Jennifer Lori said...

I like the attacker's reasoning- "I don't like pink hats". At least she's succinct!