The Mystery of the Lake Union Infant
While swimming in Lake Union, a group of boys discovered the remains of an infant, sparking a desperate search for a woman seen acting suspiciously weeks earlier.
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.
The partially decomposed remains of an infant were discovered yesterday afternoon on the east bank of Lake Union by several boys who were swimming. The infant, which could not have been over a day old, had likely lain in the water for about six weeks. It was tied and wrapped in paper, and had evidently been thrown into the lake and later washed ashore. There is no evidence in the hands of the police, but a gentleman who lives near the lake offers a potential clue. One evening in late June, he noticed a fleshy, middle-aged woman walking along the electric tracks on the east bank. Her nervous behavior caught his eye; she cast furtive glances in every direction before pulling a paper parcel from under her cloak and throwing it into the water. When the man approached, the woman appeared visibly alarmed, sweating and shaking, before fleeing to an Albert Street electric car. The site where the body was found is only 200 yards from where the witness saw the woman discard the parcel.
“She stood directly on the shore of the lake and frequently cast furtive glances up and down and in every direction.”
This tragic discovery highlights the stark isolation and lack of social services for women in 1890s Seattle. The 'electric tracks' mentioned—likely the beginnings of the city's streetcar network—have long since been replaced by the dense urban landscape surrounding modern Lake Union.
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