A Family on a Float, a Dead Baby, and a Neighbor's Kindness
When the Gore family was found feverish and destitute aboard a float at the foot of Franklin Street, Olympia's charity could not save their youngest child—but it did not abandon them.
The funeral of the five-months-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gore occurred yesterday. The circumstances surrounding the case are sad. Mr. and Mrs. Gore and two children lived on a float at the foot of Franklin Street, and when discovered all were suffering with fever and were almost destitute. All but the youngest were removed to the hospital, where they are now being cared for. Mrs. John Gimblet took charge of the baby. She nursed the child and paid all possible attention to it, but the child died a few days ago. Mr. Gimblet met all the expenses of medical attendance and those of the undertaker.
“Mr. and Mrs. Gore and two children lived on a float at the foot of Franklin Street, and when discovered all were suffering with fever and were almost destitute.”
The Gores' float was a makeshift home for a family with nowhere else to go—an 1891 version of the housing and public-health crises that still leave Olympia families on the edge. The neighbor who took in the baby and the Gimblets who paid the bills show mutual aid filling gaps before any formal safety net.
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