A Man Found Bleeding in Blackchapel Alley
A man named Babcock is found gravely wounded after an encounter in the city's notorious 'Blackchapel' district.
Babcock is suffering from a cut that left him in critical condition. It is believed he had been at a saloon on Front Street in an intoxicated condition. About 9:30 in the evening, he spent a few minutes in the Nevada saloon with Allen Coleman, a porter. Not long afterward, police officers on the lower end of town discovered bloody footprints on the sidewalks. They led from the Nevada saloon down Front and Commercial streets to Main, then to South Third and to Jackson. From there the trail kept on until it ended in what is known as Blackchapel alley, between Sixth and Seventh and King and Weller streets. There, Officer Bryant found Babcock prostrate from weakness, owing to loss of blood. The wounded man made a statement to Chief Jackson that he had been cut by a light-colored man while he was lying in Morning Alley. He was taken to Providence Hospital, where Jailer Noble discovered a razor with the blade covered in blood in his coat pocket.
“Not long afterward, different police officers on their way to the lower end of town discovered bloody footprints on the sidewalks.”
This story highlights the historical 'Blackchapel' neighborhood, a vanished district that reflects the rough, high-stakes nature of the city's waterfront life in the 1890s. The detail of the 'bloody footprints' across the downtown grid evokes a stark image of the city's physical geography before the regrades.
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