Tragedy at the Waterfront Crossing
A seven-year-old girl is struck and killed by a Northern Pacific train at the Commercial Street crossing, highlighting the lethal risks of unchecked rail traffic in a developing city.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Zelda Evans, the 7-year-old daughter of William C. Evans, whose wife keeps a lodging house at the corner of Commercial Street and Railroad Avenue, was killed by a Northern Pacific passenger train at the Commercial Street crossing yesterday afternoon. The little girl had just stepped out of the house, which sits close to the railroad, and started to cross the track. The train leaving for Tacoma at 5:30 p.m. was approaching at about five miles an hour. She did not notice it until she reached the middle of the track and the engine was upon her. In her bewilderment, she tripped and fell with her neck across the rail. The wheels passed over her, killing her instantly. Two cars passed over the body before the train could be stopped. Coroner Horton arrived and deemed an inquest unnecessary. James Green, of Bonney Stewart, prepared the remains for burial. The father, currently working in the Franklin mine, was informed of the tragedy by telegraph.
“She did not notice it until she had reached the middle of the track and the engine was close upon her. Then she made a movement to turn back, but became bewildered, and started forward.”
The waterfront of 1892 was a chaotic, industrial landscape where rail tracks and housing sat in dangerous proximity. Today, while the trains still run along the Seattle waterfront, the area has undergone a complete transformation into a public park and tourist corridor, masking the violent industrial reality that defined early pioneer life.
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