A Plunge into the Mud at Carkeek's Brick Yard
A passenger on an electric railway takes a dark, unintended shortcut off the tracks and into the waters of the bay.
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.
Monday night, about 10:20, a Norwegian stepped off a car of the West Street and North End Electric railway into the bay near Carkeek's brick yard, a distance of ten feet. At this place a side track runs out over the water to the Northern Pacific railroad. The car was standing on this, when the Norwegian, in the darkness, stepped off the car into space and landed in the mud and water. He was badly frightened and received a good drenching, but otherwise was uninjured. The conductor and passengers were at a loss for a time how to get the man out of the water, until Mr. E. R. Davies, mate of the wrecked steamer Lucy Lowe, went down a pile and grabbed the man by the coat collar. The passengers took hold of Davies and pulled them both upon the railway.
“The car was standing on this, when the Norwegian, in the darkness, stepped off the car into space and landed in the mud and water.”
This incident occurred near what is now the industrial waterfront of the Ballard/Interbay area. While the dangerous, unlit rail sidings over the water are long gone, the story captures a time when Seattle's infrastructure was rapidly expanding over the tides, often with perilous results for commuters.
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