The Price of a Snooze in the Big Dipper
A shingles weaver lost his life savings after falling asleep in a Seattle saloon—a grim reminder of the risks in the city's rough-and-tumble entertainment district.
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 Cross, described as a shuttle weaver, was asleep in a chair in the Big Dipper saloon on Saturday evening when money was stolen from him.
The page records the loss in a brief item headed "A Costly Nap" and gives no further account of a suspect, recovery, or exact sum.
“William Cross, a shingles weaver, had $120 stolen from him while he was asleep in a chair in the Big Dipper saloon.”
The 'Big Dipper' saloon occupied the space of modern-day Pioneer Square, where the struggle for personal safety and economic stability remains a constant tension. While we no longer fear pickpockets in a chair, the vulnerability of working-class laborers in the city's densest districts remains a hauntingly familiar theme.
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