The Narrow Escape: A Four-Year-Old’s Head Survives a Wagon Wheel
In the muddy streets of 1876 Seattle, a toddler’s life hung by a thread when a heavy wagon rolled directly over his skull—yet he walked away with only minor injuries.
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.
ACCORDING to a report in the local press:
A little son of Mr. J. Lantz, aged about 4 years, was run over by a wagon belonging to Mr. Hillory Butler this morning. The hind wheel passed over the child’s head, but strange to say, did no material damage. Had the accident occurred on harder ground, or the wagon been a little heavier, the child’s head must have been crushed, and as it was it was a very narrow escape.
While modern traffic safety regulations and vehicle design have drastically reduced such gruesome accidents, this 1876 account highlights the perilous nature of early Seattle's unpaved streets. The proximity of heavy commercial wagons to pedestrians in a growing town like Seattle made everyday travel a genuine gamble for children and adults alike.
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