The Man Who Mistook the Dock for a Bath
A intoxicated sawmill driver nearly drowned in Seattle’s harbor after mistaking the dark water of Yeager's Wharf for a swimming hole.
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.
About daylight yesterday morning, watchman Christ noticed an old man, considerably under the influence of ardent spirits, making his way down to Yeager's wharf. Thinking there was no danger of the unwittingly taking a bath in the dock, he followed up the wharf along until he got little the other side of Stetson's & Post's mill timber, where he first struck the water with a splash. It being rather dark, Christ had to run to the mill and get a lantern and some help. The man was soon got out, and proved to be one Hogan, who drives the saw at Colman's mill. He had been so long in the water that he was nearly gone, and had to be taken to the County Hospital where he now lies in a dangerous condition.
This 1876 incident highlights the perilous intersection of Seattle’s booming industrial labor force and its undeveloped waterfront. Before modern safety railings and lighting, the boundary between work, leisure, and danger was often blurred by alcohol and darkness, leading to fatal accidents that were treated as local news curiosities rather than systemic failures.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.