The Lawyer and the Rubber Coat
A Seattle attorney pulls a local government worker from a watery death in the harbor by the tails of his coat.
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.
John Preston, an employee of the government dry dock at Charleston, opposite Sidney, fell into the bay and was saved from a watery grave by Fred H. Peterson, the Seattle attorney. Peterson had employed Preston to row him across the bay during a gale. After landing, Peterson started to town, feeling his way along a narrow, dark pontoon with his umbrella. Preston, in a hurry to get under cover, rushed past him and ran off the float into the bay. Peterson heard the splash and saw a black, fluttering object on the surface. It was the tails of Preston's long rubber coat. As the tide was running out, Preston was threatened with being carried under the pontoon to his death. Peterson crawled to the edge of the float and seized the coat tails, eventually pulling the half-drowned man to safety by his hair.
“Peterson heard the splash and saw a black, fluttering object which appeared on the surface of the water. It was the tails of Preston's long rubber coat.”
While Kitsap County's dockside geography has evolved significantly since 1894, the hazardous nature of working on dark, rain-slicked piers remains a constant concern in the Pacific Northwest's maritime industries.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.