The Tragedy on the Everett Docks
A body pulled from the river identified by a simple metal tag on a key ring.
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.
Everett, Oct 29. — The body of a man apparently between 45 and 50 years of age was found in the river near the Pacific avenue dock this morning. On a metal tag attached to his bunch of keys was inscribed the name Louis Morrill, carpenter, Tacoma, Washington Territory, 1888. Deputy Coroner Mitchell had the body placed in charge of Undertaker Keever to await identification. Tacoma, Oct 29. — It is not known that Louis Morrill, who was found drowned at Everett, had any relations in this city.
“On a metal tag attached to his bunch of keys was inscribed the name Louis Morrill, carpenter.”
Everett's rapid development in the 1890s made it a magnet for labor, but industrial waterfronts of that era were notoriously dangerous for itinerant workers. The detail of the 'metal tag' serves as a poignant reminder of the anonymity that often claimed laborers in the Pacific Northwest's boom years.
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