Montlake - 2021 and Way Beyond by William Goodrich Bellman Chapter 43 - Malicious Mischief

We did some things as youngsters that were very dangerous and weren't nice, and we were ashamed of them later. A short distance from the east end of Lynn Street, there is a foot bridge that spans Lake Washington Blvd. On a sunny Sunday there were quite a few joy-riders touring the boulevard, with car tops down, and the passengers in their white summer suits and hats. We would hide behind the brick railing until a car was almost underneath, then throw down a gob of wet black mud. Needless to say, we ruined the day for those we hit. I can only remember doing that once; I certainly hope that's right.

Another dangerous thing we did was stand at the top of Lynn Street hill with a couple of automobile tires. We would wait till we heard a trolley car coming along 24th Avenue, then roll the tire down Lynn in the hope of hitting the car. This was kind of a game of skill, as we couldn't see the car till it reached the Lynn intersection. We played that game more than once and did get some direct hits. Another exasperating thing we did, was to run up behind the street cars and pull the trolley pole off the overhead wire, thus stopping the car. No reason behind these doings, just pure malicious mischief.

An easy way to get up 24th Ave. Hill on our bikes, was to hitch onto the back of a trolley car. You did this by riding alongside, placing your left foot on the rear boarding step, and holding onto the passenger assist railing which was located alongside the boarding step. I recall being stopped by the Seattle Mayor at the time in 1925. Mayor Edwin D. Brown, whose chauffeur-driven car came long side of me and ordered me over to the street curb. The Mayor gave me a lecture on the dangerous thing I was doing and then let me go. I didn't hitch rides in Montlake for awhile, as I feared of getting caught, since Mayor Brown often visited his brother, who lived at 24th and Newton next to Agnes Haugen. The Mayor's nephew, Bob, was a schoolmate of mine.