Abandoned in a Ballard Shack
After her husband left her for another woman, Mrs. Belle Eagon and her three young children faced eviction and hunger until neighbors intervened.
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A peculiarly distressing case of poverty and desertion has come to light in North Seattle and is being relieved by the Bureau of Associated Charities and several kind-hearted neighbors. Mrs. Belle Eagon came to Ballard from Morris, West Virginia, three months ago with her husband and three children, a girl aged 8 years, a boy of 6 and a baby less than 2 years old. The husband got work in a mill at Ballard, but left about a month ago, saying that he had not been paid all the money due him, and came to the city, accompanied by a woman with whom he is said to have lived until he heard that his wife was about to have him arrested, when he disappeared. About a week ago, the deserted wife and children were ordered out of the house they were occupying at Ballard, as it had been sold, and came to this city. They were allowed to occupy the shack in the rear of 2217 West street rent free temporarily by the Oregon Improvement Company. She applied to Mrs. Charles Swett, who soon learned of her deplorable condition. She was joined by Mrs. O. W. Frisbee and Mrs. James T. Lentzy, and they visited the shack to find the baby sick and no food in the place except flour. The woman did not ask for aid, but was so evidently in need of it that her three friends reported the case to the Bureau of Associated Charities, which sent a doctor to the baby and food for the whole family.
“The woman did not ask for aid, but was so evidently in need of it that her three friends reported the case to the Bureau of Associated Charities.”
The precarious nature of working-class housing, especially for single mothers and abandoned families, remains a sharp point of contention in Seattle. While the Bureau of Associated Charities has evolved into modern social services, the reliance on ad-hoc neighbor support systems to prevent homelessness mirrors contemporary mutual aid efforts.
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