{"id":95,"date":"2014-11-07T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-07T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=95"},"modified":"2015-01-09T17:06:17","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T22:06:17","slug":"things-get-weird-at-2153-brighton-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/11\/07\/things-get-weird-at-2153-brighton-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Things get weird at 2153 Brighton Road"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"William <\/a>
William Weichel with an unidentified woman. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The house at 2153 Brighton Road. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Theresa <\/a>
Theresa Weichel shows one of two boarded-up doors in the house. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The tiny, one-story stone house at 2153 Brighton Road looked like it was stuck in a vise. A three-story brick building pressed in on one side; on the other, a two-story frame structure squeezed in.<\/p>\n

A picture taken 60 years ago shows a house that seems ready to pop under the pressure.<\/p>\n

Inside, things appeared even worse. In fact, by November 1954, they were downright weird.<\/p>\n

William and Theresa Weichel weren\u2019t getting along. The couple married in 1939 and enjoyed a fine relationship for a few years. Then the marriage soured, Theresa said, because William\u00a0\u201cobjected to some of my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things got so bad that William and Theresa decided to live in separate parts of the little house.<\/p>\n

Fine, William said. He was a carpenter by trade, so he got a hammer and nails and pounded some old boards over two interior doorways, thus formalizing the divide. Now the couple could live side-by-side and never have to see each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s worse than an iron curtain,\u201d Theresa said.<\/p>\n

She and the couple\u2019s 13-year-old son Donald occupied three rooms and a bath. William had two rooms and control of the furnace.<\/p>\n

The furnace soon became a sticking point.<\/p>\n

When temperatures dropped, the house turned cold. So did the furnace. Theresa claimed William was trying to freeze her out by turning off the heat. She wore a long coat inside the house and \u201cchattered\u201d while she told her story to a reporter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all sick,\u201d she said. \u201cDonald has a cold and I have bronchitis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theresa said she tried to get a coal stove installed in an open fireplace in the living room, but William stoppered the chimney with cement and vowed not to turn on the furnace until March.<\/p>\n

A few days later, Theresa dragged William before a North Side alderman named William Luther. The charge: Child neglect.<\/p>\n

None of the charges were true, William said. The furnace was shut off because he got sick and couldn\u2019t get out to pay the gas bill, he claimed. Payment was late, so the gas was shut off. And, he said, he never closed up the chimney.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case is not willful,\u201d William pleaded. He said he\u2019d paid the $50 gas bill and heat was once again flowing from the furnace.<\/p>\n

Then, according to PG reporter Alvin Rosensweet, \u201che said a lot of nasty things about his wife, and she replied in turn.\u201d<\/p>\n

William promised to keep the furnace turned on throughout the winter. Luther assessed him $17 in costs and sent the two away into the cold, dark night. At least their house was warm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tiny, one-story stone house at 2153 Brighton Road looked like it was stuck in a vise.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesThings get weird at 2153 Brighton Road<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":98,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[947],"tags":[961,988,1025],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/tumblr_nen3d4gOrj1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C806&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":124,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/10\/29\/pittsburghs-baron-of-barges-has-a-weird-day-in-court\/","url_meta":{"origin":95,"position":0},"title":"Pittsburgh’s ‘Baron of Barges’ has a weird day in court","date":"October 29, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Charles Zubik Sr.'s towboat operation was once called a \u201cfloating junk pile.\u201d","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/tumblr_ne62jveoZp1rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=936%2C658&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9921,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2021\/03\/09\/the-nations-first-armored-car-robbery-took-place-here-in-1927\/","url_meta":{"origin":95,"position":1},"title":"The nation’s first armored car robbery took place here in 1927","date":"March 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"By Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette William Tarr worked as a chauffeur and a salesman before landing a job as a driver for the Brinks Express Co. in the 1920s. 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