The Struggle for a Baby's Safety in the Waterfront Slums
A twelve-month-old Japanese child was rescued by neighbors after being neglected and abused by the couple hired to care for him.
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.
Patrolman Sam Corbett reported to police headquarters Saturday that residents near Jackson and Seventh streets were complaining of the treatment a Japanese child was receiving at the hands of a family named Campbell. Investigation revealed that Alexander Campbell, a Scotchman, and Lou Campbell, a half-breed, who live in the basement of a building at the southwest corner of Seventh and Jackson streets, had a 12-month-old Japanese baby in their charge and had shamefully neglected and maltreated it. Fannie Kita, the mother, lives in the Columbus house and hired them to care for it at $15 a month. Neighbors believe the Campbells spent their time procuring beer rather than caring for the child. On one occasion, the baby was tied in a chair and left outdoors in the sun; the chair tipped over, leaving the child face-down in the sand until a neighborly woman rescued and cleaned the infant. During a recent drunken brawl between the guardians, the baby was struck and injured. Following these reports, friends of Mrs. Kita informed her of the abuse, and she has since removed the child from the home.
“The child's cries so aroused the ire of Mrs. Conners, who lives near by, that she called Officer Corbett and had him stop the affair.”
This incident exposes the brutal precariousness of migrant and immigrant life in early Seattle's 'tide flats' and basement tenements. The neighborhood at 7th and Jackson, once a center for diverse working-class struggles, remains a site of significant civic contention regarding housing and community protection today.
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