Abandoned Children Seek Help in Seattle
Three children from Everett, deserted by their father, are picked up by the police matron while begging for food in the city.
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.
Police Matron Taylor brought into the police station last evening three children—Sophia May Julian, 14; Mary, 8; and Michael, 3—whom she found begging from house to house. The children had a basket full of clothes they had collected. Mary, speaking for the group, explained that their father had left them three months ago, promising to send money from Vancouver, but they had heard nothing since. Their mother had been taking in laundry, but with work scarce, the family was left in desperation. They traveled to Seattle after a neighbor gave them money for the fare, hoping to find help. Chief Jackson intends to return the children to their mother in Everett today.
“Well, if the boat does not go until tomorrow morning I suppose we will have to swim.”
This story highlights the fragility of working-class families during the post-Panic of 1893 depression. It mirrors contemporary concerns about child welfare and the invisibility of families displaced by economic collapse in the Pacific Northwest.
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