The Night Watchman’s Leap: A Seattle Police Officer’s Brutal Fall
William Wyatt, the city's night watchman at the Union Station mail depot, suffered broken ribs and internal injuries after falling from a moving train while chasing a thief.
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 Wyatt, the night watchman of the Union Station mail depot, was seriously hurt this morning and will be confined to his home for two months. He had just completed his rounds at the depot when the 7:10 express train from Seattle entered the yard. A thief jumped on the mail car while the train was moving. Thinking of the truck which stood near the track, he leaped out from the car door; the truck caught him in the leg, breaking several ribs and hurting him internally.
This incident highlights the perilous nature of early 20th-century urban labor, where security personnel often faced physical danger without modern protective gear or legal recourse. It mirrors contemporary concerns about workplace safety for gig-economy workers and transit staff who operate in high-risk environments with minimal support.
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