Tragedy on the Tacoma Waterfront
A newborn child found dead on Dock Street stirs dark memories of an earlier unsolved discovery in the same industrial zone.
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.
The body of a newly-born girl baby, with its head crushed in, was discovered this morning lying at the edge of the water on Dock street, about 200 yards north of the new city market. The ghastly discovery was made at 8:30 a.m. by Ross Bulger and Harry Smith, two boys walking along the railroad track. The infant had apparently been murdered soon after birth; a nearby block of wood stained with blood suggests the weapon used. The body was found in a ravine in plain view of where workmen pass daily. This marks the second time in months a child's body has been found in this vicinity, the previous case remaining an unsolved mystery.
“Not a scrap of clothing was about the body, and there doesn't seem to be the slightest clue to the perpetrators of the gruesome deed.”
The Dock Street and waterfront industrial corridor remains a site of significant civic tension, as modern redevelopment often confronts the ghosts of the city's neglected history. Historically, the vulnerability of marginalized populations near the active docks was a frequent, silent tragedy reflected in these small police reports.
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