A Holiday Tragedy on the Seattle Trestle
A Norwegian farmhand, coming into town for the Christmas season, meets a grim end after losing his way on the railroad tracks.
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.
Early yesterday morning, a man passing along the railroad trestle noticed a body floating on the surface of the water back of the Arcade block, buoyed up by a lot of slabs and boards, and apparently dead. The officers were notified and the body towed ashore and taken to Shorey's undertaking establishment, where it was identified as the body of a Norwegian named Andersen, aged about 40 years. It seems that Andersen came to the Sound about a year ago and has been since employed on a farm in the White River Valley. He came to town to spend Christmas, and the last seen of him was on Friday evening about 7 o'clock, when he was under the influence of liquor. It is supposed that he attempted to walk along the railroad trestle and fell overboard, striking a raft of slabs and boards. The shock probably stunned him, so that he could not make a noise to attract the attention of passers-by. Coroner Dawson spent considerable time looking into the case and finally concluded that death resulted from accident, and that an inquest would not be held. There were no valuables or money found on the person, and only one man has been found who was acquainted with Andersen. The body will be buried at the expense of the county today.
“The shock probably stunned him, so that he could not make a noise to attract the attention of passers-by.”
The precarious nature of waterfront access and the risks faced by laborers in a rapidly industrializing city remain recurring themes in Seattle history. Just as this Norwegian farmhand found the railroad trestles to be a dangerous path home during the holidays, modern Seattle continues to grapple with pedestrian safety and the isolation of marginalized laborers within the urban landscape.
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