100 years ago: Victim of crime chews attacker’s finger

From the Lawrence Daily World for August 9, 1910:

“Miss Josephine Brown Was Followed Home Last Night and Offered Indignities on Dark Street. — Her pursuer attempted to trip her by inserting his umbrella between her ankles. Miss Brown stumbled but recovered herself and began to scream. Her assailant attempted to cover her mouth with his hand. Miss Brown is a muscular young woman of twenty-five, and she began chewing his fingers with all the force which terror lent to her muscles. It was her assailant’s time to scream. Managing to wrench loose, the assailant fled, and Miss Brown promptly fainted. She was carried to her home, where the attendance of a physician was necessary to allay a nervous attack. So severe was the shock that she screamed at intervals throughout the night, and today is still in a weakened condition…. The ballots from the 1908 election, which had been accumulating dust and cobwebs in a vault at the courthouse, were burned this morning by the County Clerk. The ballots were stacked carefully in one corner of the court house yard, then a match was touched to the lot, while officials stood around to see that none of the voted sheets blew away. The law provides that all ballots be preserved for two years or until the next election.”