Death in the Wyoming Saloon
A logger is found dead in a basement barroom after a night of heavy drinking, raising questions about his final hours.
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.
James McInnis, a logger, was found in the Wyoming saloon, corner of Rainier Avenue and South Third Street, about 6 o'clock yesterday morning. He came to the city Friday, and Saturday night he was drinking heavily. He left his valise with one of the proprietors, Chris Hanson. He later returned around 2 o'clock in the morning, stumbled while descending the steps to the basement saloon, and fell. He was helped up by Hanson and told to rest on a mattress behind a lunch counter. When the other partner returned the next morning, McInnis was dead. The coroner decided against an autopsy, noting the death was likely due to alcoholism, despite the fact that McInnis’s pockets appeared to have been rifled while he lay unconscious.
“Hansen says he feels sure that no one went through him in his saloon.”
This story highlights the vulnerability of itinerant laborers in 1890s Seattle, a population frequently exploited or abandoned in the city's rougher districts, echoing ongoing concerns regarding the safety and treatment of vulnerable populations in the downtown core.
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