The Man Who Slept in a Law Office Window
A destitute former resident of Chimacum is found crawling into a Seattle law office window, claiming he has nowhere else to go.
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.
Drunkard turned up in Chimacum few days ago. Asked for his release from the penitentiary here at Comm’r, where he has been living for the past two years. His friends have tried to assist him, but he seems unable to do anything for himself. Since his arrival in Seattle he has been living on the charity of old friends and acquaintances. Last evening, he was discovered by a policeman crawling into a window of a law office at 90 Washington street. He was taken to the armory on suspicion of being a burglar, but he produced the key of the office, and said that he had been sleeping there for the last few nights, but that he could not open the door. He was placed in the witness room to sober off.
This 1876 account of homelessness and the lack of social safety nets mirrors modern struggles with housing insecurity in Seattle. The subject’s reliance on 'charity' and his ability to sleep in a commercial building window highlights how vulnerable populations have long been forced into unconventional, precarious living situations in the city.
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