A Six-Year-Old's Night in Jail: The Abandoned Boy of Railroad Avenue
Eddie Jackans, found half-starved and sleeping in a wagon, was taken to police headquarters—and his parents wished to be rid of him.
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.
Eddie Jackans, a 6-year-old red-haired boy whose father is a fisherman and lives in a shack near the foot of Harrison Street, was found asleep in a wagon on Railroad Avenue about 10 o'clock the night before last and taken to police headquarters by Officer Griffith. He could not give a very straight account of himself and was put to bed in a hammock. Yesterday morning Jailer Feer recognized him as an old acquaintance and sent him home in the patrol wagon. While at the jail Eddie seemed to be half-starved and ate as much as a full-grown prisoner. He was put for a while in the working cell, along with a drunk and a petit larcenist, and decided that he wanted to stay there and not go on the streets again.
Last July Eddie and his 10-year-old brother Oscar were arrested for the theft of two toy wagons and a velocipede from John B. Denny, and Oscar was sent to the state reform school. The boys' parents were anxious that both boys should be taken to the school, and since only one was old enough to go they have since allowed the other to shift for himself as best he could. Eddie's father inquired after him the day before yesterday, saying he had not been home for four days, but no doubt being cared for by the police. The boy's parents would like to be rid of him.
“The boy's parents would like to be rid of him.”
Then as now, child poverty and family breakdown were visible on Seattle's streets—and the city's response was a jail cell. Eddie's story echoes today's debates over how we care for children whose families cannot or will not, and who falls through the cracks of the social safety net.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.