The Mysterious Death Under the Grant Street Bridge
A laborer, long out of work, is discovered dead beneath the Grant Street bridge in what appears to be a sad end to a spree.
The body of Frank Burnett, recently employed at Schwabacher's wharf, was found yesterday morning under the Grant Street bridge where the electric road crosses. F.M. Hanson, a court crier, noticed the body in the reeds while riding an electric car and stopped to investigate. Burnett showed no signs of violence but appeared to have been on a spree. His personal effects included a Waterbury watch, a few cents, and a letter from a woman in Hartford, Washington, asking if he had secured work. He had been out of work for six weeks and was last seen at the City dock, reportedly under the influence of liquor.
“His clothes and the spot in which he lay gave evidence that he had been on a spree.”
The Grant Street area, once part of the tide flats and an industrial transit hub, has undergone immense landfill and infrastructure changes. The story highlights the vulnerability of the laboring class during economic downturns, a theme that persists in Seattle's history of managing poverty and displacement.
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