A Near-Drowning at the Seattle Waterfront
A passenger taking a shortcut through a crowded dock ends up in the bay, saved by the quick thinking of a hotel bus driver.
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.
E. Johnson, a passenger arriving on the Walla Walla from San Francisco last night, walked off the wharf immediately after landing and would have drowned but for the timely assistance of the driver of the Arlington hotel bus. Johnson was in a hurry to get up town, and instead of following the crowd thought he would take a short cut, and started to go through the line of hacks on the edge of the dock. In the darkness he stumbled over the fender on the edge of the dock and fell into the water. His cries brought the hackmen to the scene, and the bus driver let down his hitching strap to Johnson, who held onto it until some lines could be gotten to haul him up with.
“In the darkness he stumbled over the fender on the edge of the dock and fell into the water.”
This incident highlights the hazardous, dimly lit state of Seattle's docks at the turn of the century, where travelers often risked their lives navigating through chaotic industrial zones. Today, the modern waterfront is heavily regulated and modernized, but the memory of the dangerous, slip-and-fall industrial piers remains a part of Seattle’s maritime history.
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