The Midnight Mystery of Alki Park
A recent arrival to Seattle is left wounded in the dark after an unseen assailant fires twice into his hand during a walk through the woods.
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.
Captain W. Walters lies in Providence Hospital with two ugly bullet wounds in his left hand, the result of a most mysterious shooting in the vicinity of Alki Park on Tuesday evening. The captain has been in the city only three weeks, and has no enemies that he knows of. In fact, he has made few acquaintances in the city, and says that no one is sufficiently acquainted with his circumstances to attack him with robbery in view. After watching the fireworks for some time, Capt. Walters says he went through the woods in the vicinity of Alki Park with a young man with whom he is acquainted. Neither of them carried firearms. No report of a firearm was heard by the captain when he felt a sharp pain in his left hand, which was hanging at his side. The next moment he fell to the ground, striking his head with considerable violence. Calling his companion, who was some distance in advance, Capt. Walters was assisted to Providence Hospital. The examination of the injured member resulted in the discovery of two revolver bullets close to the wrist. The affair is shrouded in mystery. That Capt. Walters had a narrow escape from fatal injuries is evidenced by the nature of the bullet wounds. Capt. Walters is from Rochester, N. Y. He has been in the West about two years, and had decided to get into business in Washington State.
“The affair is shrouded in mystery. That Capt. Walters had a narrow escape from fatal injuries is evidenced by the nature of the bullet wounds.”
A century before Alki Beach became a bustling public park, it was a dark, wooded wilderness where the city’s safety felt fragile and unknown. The 'mysterious shooting' in the woods mirrors the way public spaces in growing cities often hold hidden dangers—or at least, the anxieties of those who fear them.
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