Tragedy at the Tide Flats
A young worker perishes while seeking relief from the summer heat in Bellingham 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.
William Hicks, a young man aged 21 years, while bathing from the boom at the Globe mill on the tide flats at high tide, was drowned this evening, being seized with cramps. The A. B. Eby, passing by, brought the body to the surface after ten minutes, but was unable to resuscitate it. He was a single man and an employee of the Cornwall mill.
“The A. B. Eby, passing by, brought the body to the surface after ten minutes, but was unable to resuscitate it.”
Bellingham’s industrial waterfront has been transformed since 1892, but the dangers of cold water and sudden cramps remain a grim reality for swimmers in our local waters. This incident highlights the stark reality of life for single laborers in the boomtown era, where a simple afternoon escape could turn fatal in an instant.
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