A Shipboard Altercation at Port Blakely
A sailor is hospitalized with a broken leg following a mysterious scuffle in the forecastle of a ship docked at Port Blakely.
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.
Hans E. Peemoleer, a sailor on the ship Emin Pasha loading at Port Blakely, was taken to Providence Hospital yesterday to be treated for a broken leg. Peemoleer says that Carl Schaer, another sailor on the same ship, is responsible for his injury, having tried to provoke a fight and, not succeeding, pushed him into a corner of the forecastle. In some way that cannot be clearly explained, Peemoleer's right leg a few inches above the ankle was broken. He is resting easily at the hospital and does not experience much pain.
“In some way that cannot be clearly explained, Peemoleer's right leg a few inches above the ankle was broken.”
Workplace safety and interpersonal violence among laborers on the Seattle waterfront were frequent local concerns. This account highlights the rough conditions of maritime labor and the informal justice that often unfolded in the cramped quarters of the era's merchant fleet.
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