Fire Breaks Out in Whitechapel District
A fire in a building occupied by Japanese women in Seattle's Whitechapel district causes a panic, but is quickly extinguished.
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.
A fire, which threatened to burn the rows of wooden buildings within the limits of South Third and Fourth and Jackson and King streets, Whitechapel, broke out in the building facing on South Third street, at the rear of the 'Never-Touched-Me,' at 6 o'clock last evening. The fire department made one of the quickest runs on record. The building was occupied in the upper story by Japanese prostitutes. When the blaze broke out, the occupants fled the building. The fire was extinguished in fifteen minutes, saving much of the neighborhood. The loss will not exceed $200.
“The women picked up their things and were running out of the house like scared animals when the firemen came in the door.”
This area of Seattle (today's International District/Pioneer Square periphery) was historically known as Whitechapel. The report highlights the precarious existence and frequent displacement of marginalized residents, specifically Japanese women, in the city's early red-light districts.
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