A Desperate Leap into the Sound
A former railroad official jumps from a steamer into the Puget Sound, allegedly following a morphine injection.
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 overboard!" was the cry that startled the passengers on board the steamer Emma Hayward yesterday afternoon as the vessel was passing Duwamish Head on her way from Tacoma to Seattle. It was learned that Carroll Remick had sprung overboard. He was a superb swimmer and breasted the waves until he was fished out after being in the water ten minutes. Mr. Remick was very wet and cold. Passengers chafed him, administered whiskey, and placed his back against a boiler until the steamer reached the wharf. The act was caused by morphine, as one of the deck hands says he saw him go into a closet and inject morphine into his arm a few minutes before he jumped. Remick was for a long time assistant cashier of the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad.
“The cold waters of the sound brought Remick to his senses and he exerted himself to save his life.”
The reporting of this incident is strikingly clinical and non-judgmental regarding the addiction that prompted the act, a rare nuance in 1890. It highlights the human toll behind the industrial expansion of the era's railroad and shipping sectors.
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