The Tragic End of William Hill
The body of a Scottish laborer is discovered floating near the Seattle city front, leaving behind a simple will and a recommendation from a Victoria hotel.
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.
Yesterday morning the body of a man named William Hill was found floating in the bay near the city front, which had the appearance of having been in the water for a considerable time. The remains were taken to the undertaker's, where a coroner's inquest was held. Hill was a laborer, and the last seen of him was on the evening of May 17th, when he boarded the ship City of Brooklyn, apparently in quest of work. His roll of blankets and hat were found on Harrington & Smith's wharf, but no trace of his whereabouts was found until yesterday. The coroner's jury found that his name was William Hill, supposed to be a native of Scotland; about 5 feet 8 inches in height, and 40 years of age. From surrounding circumstances, the jury arrived at the following: That he came to his death by suicide or accidental drowning. Property found on the body was one New Testament, a letter of recommendation from Alexander McDonald of the Boomerang Hotel, Victoria, B.C., and a will: 'I hereby appoint and authorize my brother, Alexander Hill, to obtain, possess and occupy all that I shall leave at my decease.' - William Hill, Victoria, B.C., 1884.
“The last seen of him was on the evening of May 17th, when he boarded the ship City of Brooklyn, apparently in quest of work.”
The waterfront remains a place of profound precarity in Seattle. Just as Hill's belongings were found on a wharf in 1884, modern residents often face similar displacement and isolation, echoing the enduring vulnerability of the city's laboring class.
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