The Stowaway in the Flour Car
A freight train arrived at the Seattle depot with a terrifying surprise: a man had been sealed inside a flour car since Sunday, nearly dying of starvation.
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.
When the freight train from Portland arrived at the Northern Pacific freight depot at noon yesterday, the conductor heard a hammering on the inside of a car loaded with flour. He opened the door and out jumped a man so nearly famished he could not speak. He did not wait to make any explanation but made a rush for a restaurant. The man must have fasted since Sunday night, as the car had been sealed in Portland and not opened since. Two smashed boards at the end of the car suggest it had been in a slight collision, which likely left the man terrified during his journey.
“Out jumped a man, so nearly famished that he could not speak.”
Freight trains are no longer the primary mode of travel for those lacking other means, but the desperation of the 'tramp'—a common term of the era for a transient laborer—highlights the harsh reality of movement and exclusion in 1890s Washington.
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