The Unlucky Yawn of Mr. Jackson
A Seattle man faces an awkward medical predicament after his jaw locks mid-yawn.
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. K. Jackson, the man who unfortunately had his jaws locked while enjoying an unusually large yawn the other morning, was at work yesterday. On several former occasions a gape resulted in a partial locking of the jaws, but never was the lock so obstinate to open as on the last occasion. Hereafter, Mr. Jackson will yawn carefully and gape on the installment plan.
“Hereafter, Mr. Jackson will yawn carefully and gape on the installment plan.”
While Seattle’s 1889 newspapers were filled with standard reports on real estate booms and labor strikes, they frequently included 'briefs'—quirky, human-interest observations about everyday citizens. This story serves as a reminder that the frantic, rapidly developing city of the late 19th century was populated by people just as prone to the small, absurd inconveniences of the human body as we are today.
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