{{Short description|American vandal}} {{similar names|Mary Sweeney (disambiguation){{!}}Mary Sweeney}} [[File:Mary Sweeny Ann Arbor Argus - March 26, 1897.jpg|alt=Mary Sweeny Newspaper Article - Ann Arbor Argus - March 26, 1897|thumb|Mary Sweeny Newspaper Article - Ann Arbor Argus - March 26, 1897 [https://aadl.org/node/144702]]]
'''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''',<ref name="Chippewa4">{{cite news |title=The Window Smasher |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/416900645/?terms=%22window-smasher%22 |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=Chippewa Herald-Telegram |date=26 August 1894 |location=Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin |page=3}}</ref><ref name="SaintPaul">{{cite news |title=The Window Smasher |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/80793832/?terms=%22window-smasher%22 |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Saint Paul Globe |date=31 March 1892 |location=Saint Paul, Minnesota |page=1}}</ref><ref name="Chippewa2"/><ref name="GreenBay2"/><ref name="Stevens">{{cite news |date=22 September 1925 |title=Maria Sweeney Scours Nation; Seeks Lost Son |page=5 |work=Stevens Point Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/250647918/?terms=%22Maria%2BSweeney%22 |accessdate=8 April 2019}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Wambold"/>
== Life == 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,<ref name="Stevens"/> 1859<ref name="GreenBay2">{{cite news |title=Maria Sweeney Is Back In La Crosse. Noted Window Smasher Returns After Absence of Thirteen Years |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/186212132/?terms=%22window-smasher%22 |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=Green Bay Press-Gazette |agency=Associated Press |date=30 October 1912 |location=Green Bay, Wisconsin |page=4}}</ref> or 1862.<ref name="Refuge">{{cite news |title=A Refuge for Maria Sweeny |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/445534214/?terms=%22Maria%2BSweeney%22 |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=News-Record |date=26 March 1895 |location=Neenah, Wisconsin |page=1}}</ref><ref name="EauClaire">{{cite news |title=The Last of Maria |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/239399989/?terms=%22Maria%2BSweeney%22%2B%22St%2BPaul%22 |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Daily Telegram |date=27 April 1897 |location=Eau Claire, Wisconsin |page=3}}</ref> In 1882, she was reported to have stolen a dress from the woman she worked for,<ref>{{cite news |title=State News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/406390865/?terms=%22Maria%2BSweeney%22 |accessdate=14 April 2019 |work=Wisconsin State Journal |date=6 November 1882 |location=Madison, Wisconsin |page=2}}</ref> and by late 1885, she had already been committed to and released from a hospital for the insane.<ref>{{cite news |title=Here and There |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/38852821/?terms=%22Maria%2BSweeney%22 |accessdate=14 April 2019 |work=The Stevens Point Journal |date=19 September 1885 |page=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=County Government |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/38852235/?terms=%22Maria%2BSweeney%22 |accessdate=14 April 2019 |work=The Stevens Point Journal |date=2 January 1886 |page=9}}</ref> She claimed to be the wife of a St. Paul druggist named E.J. Ricks<ref name="Refuge"/> or E.J. Haley.<ref name="SaintPaul"/> She reportedly worked at one time as a teacher at Stevens Point,<ref name="Wambold"/><ref name="Chippewa2">{{cite news |title=Woman Tramp - Mary Sweeney, the Window Smasher, Goes to Jail |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/416881716/?terms=%22Mary%2BRicks%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=Chippewa Herald-Telegram |date=27 February 1897 |location=Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin |page=3}}</ref> and was a great wife and mother of two.<ref name="MontrealRiver1">{{cite news |title=Still Breaking Windows |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/358683132/?terms=%22Maria%2BSweeney%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=Montreal River Miner and Iron County Republican |location=Hurley, Wisconsin |date=15 October 1892 |page=6}}</ref> An injury to her brain caused her to change,<ref name="MontrealRiver1"/> as a result of which she ran away from home in about 1890,<ref name="MontrealRiver1"/> and traveled around northern Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Montana, breaking windows.<ref name="MontrealRiver1"/><ref name="Argus">{{cite news |title=Mary the Window Smasher |url=https://aadl.org/node/144702 |accessdate=29 March 2019 |work=Ann Arbor Argus |date=26 March 1897}}</ref><ref name="Sioux">{{cite news |title=Jottings About Town |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/436325140/?terms=%22Mary%2BRicks%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=Sioux City Journal |date=20 March 1896 |location=Sioux City, Iowa |page=8}}</ref><ref name="Butte">{{cite news |title=Woman Tramp is Kept Going Along |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/348402782/?terms=%22Mary%2BRicks%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Butte Miner |date=19 July 1904 |location=Butte, Montana |page=4}}</ref><ref name="Gores">{{cite news |last1=Gores |first1=Stan |title=Maria Sweeney Smash Hit in Fond-du-Lac, Elsewhere |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/285314526/?terms=%22Maria%2BSweeney%22 |accessdate=14 April 2019 |work=Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter |date=17 March 1967 |location=Fond du Lac, Wisconsin |page=4, S2}}</ref> <br>
== Notoriety == One cause of her window breaking sprees was reported to be drinking;<ref name="EauClaire"/><ref name="StevensPoint">{{cite news |title=Does Maria Still Live? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/36822485/?terms=%22Mary%2BSweeny%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Gazette |date=22 January 1908 |location=Stevens Point, Wisconsin |page=1}}</ref> it was also noted that she was seeking vengeance against medical doctors.<ref name="Chippewa4"/><ref name="SaintPaul"/><ref name="Oshkosh6">{{cite news |title=The Smasher Again |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/245700779/?terms=%22window-smasher%22 |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Oshkosh Northwestern |date=22 April 1892 |location=Oshkosh, Wisconsin |page=5}}</ref> She is said to have used cocaine to self-medicate because "it quiets her nerves".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5q_gDQAAQBAJ&q=sweeny&pg=PT285|title=Wisconsin Death Trip|last=Lesy|first=Michael|date=2016-08-15|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|isbn=9780826358400|language=en}}</ref> She was quoted as liking "to hear the glass jingle".<ref name="SaintPaul"/><ref name="Appleton1">{{cite news |title=Sweeny the Smasher |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/408315621/?terms=%22Mary%2BSweeny%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=Appleton Post |date=14 December 1893 |location=Appleton, Wisconsin |page=1}}</ref><ref name="Appleton2">{{cite news |title=The Window-Smasher Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/408280720/?terms=%22Mary%2BSweeny%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=Appleton Post |date=6 December 1894 |location=Appleton, Wisconsin |page=5}}</ref> She broke windows of shops and trains using anything to hand, including stones,<ref name="Oshkosh"/><ref name="Neenah">{{cite news |title=Mary Sweeny the "window-smasher" |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/444918096/?terms=%22Mary%2BSweeny%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Neenah Daily Times |date=16 March 1895 |location=Neenah, Wisconsin |page=5, col. 2, top}}</ref><ref name="Oshkosh2"/> sticks of wood,<ref name="Oshkosh2">{{cite news |title=Mary Sweeney Again |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/245712549/?terms=%22Mary%2BSweeny%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Oshkosh Northwestern |date=11 March 1895 |location=Oshkosh, Wisconsin |page=1}}</ref><ref name="Menasha">{{cite news |title=Around a Great State! Past, Present and Future Occurrences in Badgerdom |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/445555308/?terms=%22Mary%2BSweeney%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Saturday Evening Press |date=28 February 1891 |location=Menasha, Wisconsin |page=1}}</ref> or a satchel.<ref name="Neenah2">{{cite news |title=Town Talk |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/444725241/?terms=%22Mary%2BSweeny%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Neenah Daily Times |date=22 August 1893 |location=Neenah, Wisconsin |page=4}}</ref><ref name="Fond">{{cite news |title=Two Celebrities - Fond du Lac Cages Mary Sweeney With Frankie Blunt |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/245724721/?terms=%22window-smasher%22 |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Oshkosh Northwestern |date=22 August 1893 |location=Oshkosh, Wisconsin |page=1}}</ref> Authorities dealt with her by arresting and jailing her,<ref name="MontrealRiver1"/><ref name="Argus"/><ref name="Gores"/><ref name="Neenah"/><ref name="Neenah2"/><ref name="Tribune">{{cite news |title=Window Smasher Arrested |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/180768107/?terms=%22Maria%2BRicks%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=Star Tribune |date=15 November 1893 |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |page=2}}</ref><ref name="Milwaukee"/><ref name="Oshkosh4">{{cite news |title=Smashing Marie Rix |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/245695802/?terms=%22window-smasher%22 |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Oshkosh Northwestern |date=8 March 1892 |location=Oshkosh, Wisconsin |page=1}}</ref> hospitalising her,<ref name="Oshkosh">{{cite news |title=Mrs. Sweeney Again |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/245730793/?terms=%22Mary%2BSweeney%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Oshkosh Northwestern |date=14 July 1891 |location=Oshkosh, Wisconsin |page=4}}</ref><ref name="Milwaukee"/><ref name="Green"/> committing her to insane asylums,<ref name="MontrealRiver1"/><ref name="Argus"/><ref name="Appleton2"/> and paying for her rail travel to another town.<ref name="Argus"/><ref name="Appleton1"/><ref name="Neenah"/><ref name="Oshkosh2"/><ref name="Green">{{cite news |title=Maria Again on Her Travels |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/187057342/?terms=%22Maria%2BRicks%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=Green Bay Press-Gazette |date=13 February 1894 |location=Green Bay, Wisconsin |page=3}}</ref> She boasted that she would quickly escape from hospitals and asylums,<ref name="Oshkosh"/> and succeeded several times.<ref name="MontrealRiver1"/> Her sanity was assessed by doctors, who declared her sane,<ref name="Milwaukee">{{cite news |title=Badger Brevities: Marion Ricks, or Maria Sweeney, the "Window Smasher" |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/10849032/?terms=%22Maria%2BSweeney%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Weekly Wisconsin |date=11 November 1893 |location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin |page=3}}</ref> or as one newspaper stated, "She appears to be perfectly rational on all subjects except that of window smashing".<ref name="Green"/> She did not know why she broke windows but did it only "when the craze seized her."<ref name="Wambold"/> <br>
Her window breaking also brought her to the attention of then Wisconsin governor Edward Scofield.<ref name="Wambold">{{Cite web|url=http://wamboldresearch.com/case_studies/sweeney_01.html|title=Historical Research Services - Mary Sweeney, the Wisconsin Window Smasher|website=wamboldresearch.com|access-date=2019-03-22}}</ref><ref name="Argus"/><ref name="Chippewa">{{cite news |title=Governor Scofield Acts - Commitment of Mary Sweeny in an Asylum Ordered |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/416904744/?terms=%22Mary%2BSweeny%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Weekly Herald |date=25 March 1897 |location=Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin |page=3}}</ref> She was committed to the Mendota Asylum for the Insane on July 19, 1897, but was released within a few years.<ref name="Chippewa3">{{cite news |title=Mary Ricks Coming North - Woman Who Obtained Fame as a Window Breaker Helped Out of Town |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/416909076/?terms=%22Mary%2BRicks%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=Chippewa Herald-Telegram |date=31 August 1900 |location=Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin |page=3}}</ref> She then reportedly married a man named Anderson in North Dakota, with whom she had a child,<ref name="Chippewa3"/><ref name="Appleton3">{{cite news |title=Window-Smasher Didn't Stop |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/395854892/?terms=%22Mary%2BRicks%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Post-Crescent |date=7 September 1900 |location=Appleton, Wisconsin |page=3}}</ref> but claimed that he deserted her after learning that she had been in an asylum.<ref name="Appleton3"/>
While it was reported that in 1903, Sweeny was still showing a desire to break windows,<ref name="Butte"/> by 1904, she was described as having "an uncontrollable desire for roving about the country,"<ref name="Butte"/> so "plays her role of a window-smasher" in order to get free train travel.<ref name="Butte"/><ref name="Gores"/> By 1906, it was reported that "for several years [she] has not engaged in the plate glass business",<ref name="Marshfield">{{cite news |title=Mary Sweeny in Town |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/266235043/?terms=%22Mary%2BSweeny%22%2Bwindow |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=The Marshfield News and Wisconsin Hub |date=13 September 1906 |location=Marshfield, Wisconsin |page=1}}</ref> though she still traveled constantly.<ref name="Marshfield"/> In 1907, several newspapers announced Sweeny's death,<ref name="StevensPoint"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Death of Maria Sweeney |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/251220764/?terms=%22Maria%2BSweeney%22 |work=The Stevens Point Journal |date=17 April 1907 |location=Stevens Point, Wisconsin |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Maria Sweeney Passes Away |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/417181127/?terms=%22Maria%2BSweeney%22 |accessdate=14 April 2019 |work=Chippewa Herald-Telegram |date=18 April 1907 |location=Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin |page=3}}</ref> but in January 1908 one paper reported that she was in Ashland, Wisconsin.<ref name="StevensPoint"/> 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.<ref name="GreenBay2"/>
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.<ref name="Stevens"/>
== References == <references />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeney, Mary}}
Category:History of mental health in the United States Category:19th-century American criminals Category:American female criminals Category:People from Saint Paul, Minnesota Category:People from Stevens Point, Wisconsin