Abandoned in a Tent
A sick, elderly man found destitute near Lowden Station is moved to the county poorhouse after neighbors can no longer provide care.
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.
County Health Officer Stiles was called to Lowden station last week where he found a man, identified as Mike Sternberg, living in a tent without a stove or adequate support. Sternberg, who appeared to be about 60 years old, had been roaming the coast as a teamster for 35 years. Suffering from chronic dysentery and having lost his team of horses, he had survived solely on the charity of a local farmer named Pemberton. With Pemberton unable to continue his support, the county eventually transported Sternberg to the poorhouse.
“He was found... in a tent some distance from the station where he found a man apparently about 60 years of age without any visible means of support or even a stove.”
The precarious existence of unhoused and medically vulnerable individuals in rural Walla Walla County echoes the ongoing crisis of rural homelessness and the lack of social safety nets that persist today.
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