A Night in the Saloon Ends in a Broken Leg
Shoemaker Vela Larsen, 43, broke his right leg in a saloon scuffle at 1413 Front St. and waited an hour for treatment.
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.
Vela Larsen, a Norwegian shoemaker, 43 years old, was brought to the police station by the patrol wagon at 10 o'clock last evening, with his right leg broken above the ankle as the result of a scuffle in a saloon at 1413 Front Street. As Larsen was without means, he was taken to the police station for surgical attention, which he did not get, and had finally to be sent to the Providence hospital, after lying for an hour at the station. Larsen gave evidence of having been drinking, and when questioned as to the cause of the accident he could give no clear account of it beyond saying that some stranger came up to him and gave him the 'back heel' throw, and in falling his leg got twisted and the bone snapped off sharp.
“some stranger came up to him and gave him the 'back heel' throw, and in falling his leg got twisted and the bone snapped off sharp.”
This incident captures the gritty reality of life in Seattle's waterfront districts in the 1890s. The struggle to get medical care for an impoverished immigrant in a public station remains a hauntingly familiar civic failure.
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