A Newsboy's Tragic End
The parents of a fourteen-year-old newsboy killed by a locomotive seek damages for his death.
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.
Another railroad damage suit is on trial in the United States circuit court. The case is that of Michael Roakey and wife against the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. On October 17, Michael Roakey, aged 14 years, the son of the plaintiffs, while crossing the railway tracks at Commercial and King streets, was run over and killed by a locomotive which, the plaintiffs allege, was running at a speed greater than twenty miles an hour. It is also alleged that the crossing was unguarded by any flagman. For the loss of their boy, who was their only support and who was a newsboy, his parents ask for $29,800 damages.
“For the loss of their boy, who was their only support and who was a newsboy, his parents ask for $29,800 damages.”
The intersection of Commercial (now First Avenue South) and King Street remains a hub of transit history. This story highlights the extreme dangers posed by steam locomotives cutting through the heart of residential Seattle and the vulnerability of the children who worked the city's streets as newsies.
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