The Disappearance of the Bridge Carpenter
A missing worker, a night of drinking, and a suspicious vacuum in the city's saloons.
A. Abner, a bridge carpenter, is missing, and his friends believe him to be a victim of foul play. He came to Seattle from Whatcom with George DeWitt and William Thomas on December 17, and stopped at the Seattle Hotel, on the corner of Railroad Avenue and Jackson Street. Thursday evening, Abner got drunk, and with his friend Thomas walked into the Eureka Saloon, on the corner of Third and Jackson streets. About 9 o'clock, he left the saloon for the hotel, saying he was going after DeWitt. That is the last seen of him. About 11 o'clock, Thomas went to the hotel and went to bed, and nothing was thought of the matter until the next morning. Last night, the matter was placed in the hands of a detective. At the time he left the saloon, Abner had $7 in money on him, a check, and a gold watch and chain. He came from Illinois to the coast two years ago and has been in Washington seven months. He is about 26 years old; he was married, but his wife died, and his 4-year-old child is now with relatives in Illinois. Their address is not known.
“About 9 o'clock he left the saloon for the hotel, saying he was going after DeWitt. That is the last seen of him.”
The intersection of 3rd and Jackson remains a landmark in Pioneer Square, though the gritty reality of a transient laborer disappearing after a saloon night echoes the enduring vulnerability of Seattle's unhoused and laboring populations. Despite the massive change in the city's skyline, the corner is still a place where the lives of the working class and the city's criminal element intersect.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.