A Broken Leg and a Stranger's Kindness
After a brutal accident on the steamer Merwin, a man is left to fend for himself until a stranger intervenes to ensure he gets care.
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.
Tuesday morning a man named H. P. Wilson boarded the steamer Merwin at Vashon and asked to be allowed to go to Seattle. He had with him a large amount of gold, weighing 400 pounds. He had been on the boat for some time when, in taking in some freight, his leg was either badly squeezed or crushed. When the boat arrived at Yesler's wharf the man was unable to move. He asked the captain to take him to the county commissioners to pay his expenses at the hospital. In the meantime, he had to remain on the wharf while he waited for someone to help him. A gentleman saw the man in that condition, took the Sheriff by the hand, and asked him to take the suffering man to the hospital, with a solemn assurance that he would pay for it himself. The suffering man took the Sheriff by the hand and thanked him for his kindness. He was then taken to the hospital, where his leg was promptly dressed, and in a few weeks he will be able to recover.
“The suffering man took the Sheriff by the hand and thanked him for his kindness.”
The reliance on a Good Samaritan to cover medical costs because the County would not reveals the pre-welfare state fragility of 19th-century Seattle. While the specific dock is gone, the tension between municipal responsibility and individual charity remains a persistent ghost in the city's approach to healthcare access.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.