Officer and Volunteer Rescue Man Clinging to Piling
A man is rescued from the freezing bay with his foot crushed, later dying at the hospital.
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.
On Monday morning, about 11 o'clock, the crew of the ship Yamhill were paid off and discharged. One of the sailors, S. Bow of San Francisco, indulged in his visit to the city and drifted down upon the wharf. About 4 o'clock yesterday morning, Officer Linquist heard cries emanating from the direction of the boat house, near Hatch's mill, walked down the steps leading to the railroad track, and found Mr. A. M. Dald, who, having dressed, procured a boat and wandered about in the dark in search of the one who was making the cries. Within about 40 feet of the railroad track they found a man clinging to an upright piling in about 10 feet of water. The officers rescued him and found that his left foot was crushed to atoms. The man was then in a semi-conscious state, and the officers were unable to learn anything from him as to his injuries, as he could not speak. The general supposition is that the man was run over by the early morning freight train, and was knocked from the trestle into the bay, and then swam to the piling, where he had been clinging for nearly an hour before he was rescued. The unfortunate man was conveyed to the Fannie C. Paddock Hospital, where he expired about 20 minutes after his arrival.
“The officers rescued him and found that his left foot was crushed to atoms.”
Industrial waterfront accidents were common in Seattle's early development, often involving transients or laborers working the docks. This story captures the precarious nature of life for laborers in the 1880s, an era when public safety infrastructure was minimal compared to modern standards.
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