A Desperate Leap into Lake Washington
A woman known as 'Bessie' was rescued from the waters of Lake Washington near Madrona Park following a reported suicide attempt.
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.
A blond-haired, fairly good-looking girl, who goes under the name of Bessie and is an inmate of Nina Hyman's disreputable house at the corner of Commercial and Washington streets, was picked out of Lake Washington about midway between Madrona and Leschi parks last night at 10:30 o'clock. While being taken to the hotel she said she wished she might die, but at the house this morning it was said she simply fell into the lake. About 10 o'clock the woman arrived at Madrona Park, intoxicated and crying. She sat down on a seat and looked so despondent that Mrs. Keller, who keeps the hotel, watched her until she disappeared along the shore. Mrs. Keller sent her son Edward to see where she had gone, and in a few minutes he came upon her, floundering in the lake near a big log. He grabbed her and managed to get her to shore, the water being shallow. In the hotel she was very violent and it took several men to hold her. Her clothes were filled with sand. When Nina Hyman arrived later, she was able to walk along the shore to the carriage. Nina Hyman said: 'Bessie got drunk and fell into the lake. That is all there is to it.' It is known, however, that the girl had trouble in the afternoon with one of the other girls in the house, and it is thought a well-known young man stood between them.
“While being taken to the hotel she said she wished she might die, but at the house this morning it was said she simply fell into the lake.”
The report of a 'disreputable house' near the waterfront and the tragic despair of an individual marginalized by society reflect the harsh realities for women in 1893 Seattle. While the geography of Leschi and Madrona parks remains, the social stigma surrounding these lives is a reminder of the city's invisible histories.
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