Unnamed Drifter Saves Girl from Drowning
A homeless man risked his life to pull a young girl from the water near the Great Northern tracks, only to walk away and spend the reward money on liquor.
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.
An accident occurred on the waterfront yesterday that would have resulted in the drowning of Alice Crews, a 12-year-old girl, had it not been for the bravery of a tramp who sprang into the water and pulled her out. Alice, whose father is a carpenter for the Oregon Improvement Company, was walking along the Great Northern tracks near the foot of Virginia Street when she lost her balance and fell. Striking her side against a tie, she was rendered powerless. Several tramps lying nearby witnessed the fall, and one jumped in to save her. When pulled out, the girl was frightened but safe. The tramp, when asked his name, replied, 'I haven't got any name, partner. I am a traveling man; walk ties for my health.' Bystanders gave the man money, and half an hour later he was seen spending it for liquor in the Cayuga saloon.
“I haven't got any name, partner. I am a traveling man; walk ties for my health.”
The waterfront and the foot of Virginia Street have been radically altered by the Alaskan Way Viaduct and subsequent redevelopment, but the theme of social tension between housed residents and the transient population remains a defining, often fraught, part of Seattle's civic discourse.
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