A Sick Man's Plight in Seattle
A desperate resident pleads for public assistance for a destitute, dying stranger denied care by the county.
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 correspondent writes to the paper regarding a man in destitute circumstances: 'He is a stranger, an honest workman. He has a wife and children in Portland, but he has no money, no relatives or friends here. Two kind-hearted doctors came to see him, but because he has no means with which to pay them for their attendance or for medicine, they refuse to attend him, and he lays day in and day out without any care. I called upon the county commissioners and they refused to assist him. I then called upon the coroner and he gave the same tale. He is a perfect stranger to the city, but he happens to be an honest workman. If this is a sample of our public charity and the pomp of our city office-holders, when it comes to the test, a poor unfortunate human being who is very sick and dying in want of care, that is too trifling for consideration. I pay heavy county and city taxes, besides about $100 per year in street assessments. Why should I be required to take care of this man simply because he happens to come to my house and the county officials refuse to render any assistance?'
“If this is a sample of our public charity and the pomp of our city office-holders, when it comes to the test, a poor unfortunate human being who is very sick and dying in want of care, that is too trifling for consideration.”
The tension between private charity and public responsibility for the destitute was as much a political lightning rod in the 1890s as it is in today's Seattle, where the debate over public health and homelessness remains the defining civic struggle.
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