He Walked 600 Miles for Work—Then Seattle Called Him a Tramp
In a letter to the editor, Harry Wright defends the men sleeping at the City Mission, tracing his path from a Missoula hotel job to six weeks broke in Seattle.
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.
414 Commercial Street, Seattle, Dec. 27, 1893.
To the Editor: Referring to your leader in yesterday's issue, I, being one of the "parasites" and "tramps" spoken of as sleeping in the City Mission, beg space to say a few words, both on my own and on behalf of several others staying there.
An erroneous idea seems to prevail among the police and newspaper men of Seattle that none other than professional tramps would accept the hospitality of the Salvation Army and City Mission.
Now I worked two and one-half months this last summer in the Grand Central Hotel, Missoula, Mont., at $40 per month. I received in all [a small sum] in small installments of 50 cents up to $2, and on the 1st of August the hotel went "up the flume" and I got "left."
I had walked up there from Seattle, every step of the way, about 600 miles, looking for work, mind you, and that is the climax. I left Missoula with 5 cents and walked back to [Squak?], where I hoed hops for Mr. John Wooding, county commissioner, which I may add I have done four successive years. I [finished?] on the 1st of October. This money will not last long, especially if a man has to buy a suit of clothes, underwear, shoes, etc., which I did right here, to the tune of $16. Consequently, with the exception of $1.50 earned by five days' work digging potatoes, I have been "broke" six weeks.
On the morning the contractor called for men I was out and gone before he came, and the charcoal burner I never heard of until I saw your paper. The term "parasite" is hardly applicable to me or the other honest workingmen who, had we received our hard-earned wages (and there are several here who were served in the same manner as myself), would have been independent of charity and could afford to treat the sneers and jeers of the newspapers with silent contempt.
I am, sir, your obedient servant, Harry Wright.
“The term "parasite" is hardly applicable to me or the other honest workingmen who, had we received our hard-earned wages, would have been independent of charity.”
During the depression of 1893, Seattle newspapers fretted about "tramps" at the City Mission, but Wright's letter insists that many were workers stranded by collapsed jobs and unpaid wages. His careful accounting of a $40-a-month job, a 600-mile walk, and six weeks broke makes the line between worker and destitute painfully thin—a distinction Seattle still argues over when it talks about homelessness and who deserves help.
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