Mary Sweeny

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.

[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.

[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.

[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".