The Silent Fisherman of West Point
A fisherman is discovered dead in his boat near the lighthouse after a freak accident.
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.
The lifeless body of John Brand, a fisherman, was found yesterday afternoon in his half-swamped boat, half a mile from the West Point lighthouse. He had evidently been dead two or three days. There was a deep mark across the forehead which is supposed to have been caused by the sail post breaking and knocking him senseless. Brand leaves a wife and seven children, who live on Harrison street, in Shantytown. He left home on Friday morning and never returned. It is supposed that he went fishing while drunk. His boat is a very small one, and would hardly bear up two persons. A gust of wind probably came up, causing the mast to snap in two, the end flying backward and striking Brand in the face. The blow must have caused him to plunge forward on his head in the boat, his weight careening the frail craft until it almost filled with water. Thus the fisherman lay in the boat with his head and shoulders under water, and, while in this position, he drowned before he recovered consciousness.
“Thus the fisherman lay in the boat with his head and shoulders under water, and, while in this position, he drowned before he recovered consciousness.”
The West Point area, now home to Discovery Park and a prominent lighthouse, was once a treacherous zone for small-craft fishermen. The mention of 'Shantytown' recalls the temporary, often precarious housing settlements that dotted the Seattle waterfront during periods of rapid growth and economic instability.
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