Please Help the Blind.

In the Old Town Ambulations post, I made reference to an illustration a 1889 issue of West Shore which described Portland's north end as follows:

A ten-year-old boy lies sprawled on a curb dead drunk. From an open window a prostitute solicits. Three Chinese pose proudly in thier gambling establishment. Through all of this a Portland policement passes, tapping his way with a white cane, and bearing a sign which reads, "Please help the blind."⁷

With a twinkle in my eye, I found a book containing said illustration.²



The man standing at the very right edge is being solicited by aforementioned prostitute at an open window (you can glimpse the edge of the window). The little girl being run down in the street by a carriage is pretty horrible. Can't quite figure out what's supposed to be going on in & front of the building on the left. Whatever it is, the "___ Bank" is clearly up to no good.

-d.d.

¹ Portland; A Historical Sketch and Guide. O'Donnell, Terence, and Vaughn, Thomas. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon. 1976. p. 35
² The Shaping of a City; Business and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1885-1915. MacColl, E. Kimbark. Georgian Press Company, Portland, Oregon. 1976. p. 193.