A Soaking Wet Spectacle at Harrington Wharf
A drunken man's attempt to secure a tow across the water ends in a humiliating and hilarious public splashdown.
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.
A man from the Sound, who had been indulging rather immoderately in the ardent, entertained a large crowd of men and boys on the Harrington wharf yesterday, much to their amusement. He came down to the wharf and tried to pull out of the slip in his boat, just as the Success was getting up steam for Blakely. He failed in this attempt by breaking his oar, and then standing up in his boat commenced bartering Capt. Nugent for a tow across, but the captain's refusal only excited his ire. He broke out into a terrible rage and had nearly exhausted his vocabulary of bile and bitter epithets on the Captain and crew of the Success, when his boat suddenly careened to one side and pitched him out into the water. His ludicrous effort to regain his position and get back to the steps was where the laugh came in. He kept continually cursing the crowd of bystanders till he got ashore, and then wanted some one to have a fight with him.
“He broke out into a terrible rage and had nearly exhausted his vocabulary of bile and bitter epithets... when his boat suddenly careened to one side and pitched him out into the water.”
Public intoxication and rowdy behavior on the downtown waterfront have been a staple of Seattle news since its founding. Today's public nuisance ordinances and water-side development may be more regulated, but the scene of a boisterous individual losing their cool in public remains a recognizable, if timeless, part of the city's urban character.
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