A Ballard Family's Desperate Winter: Five Children Crying for Bread
A sick father, a dying mother, and five hungry children in Salmon Bay Park. A stranger's dollar is all they have.
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 destitute German family, named Kurtz, living in Salmon Bay Park, Ballard, is in a very distressed condition. The father has been sick in bed for five months with a running sore from a diseased bone in his leg. The mother lately gave birth to a baby, and is not expected to live. There are five small children in the family. A kind-hearted man called on the family Thursday and found the children ravenous with hunger. He said the sight of a helpless father, a dying mother, and five hungry children was more than he could stand. He gave them a dollar, which was all he had. Application to the county commissioners will be made and a masque ball for the benefit of the family will be given soon in Ballard.
“He said the sight of a helpless father, a dying mother, and five hungry children was more than he could stand. He gave them a dollar, which was all he had.”
In 1895, Ballard was a separate city with no safety net. Today, it's a wealthy Seattle neighborhood, but the story of a family one illness away from ruin still resonates in a city where housing and healthcare costs push many to the brink.
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