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Following an investigation, the state board of control fires a hospital steward accused of subjecting elderly, vulnerable veterans to inhuman conditions.
“The inmates of the hospital have repeatedly said, of late, that the hospital at the home was not heaven.”
A legislative report reveals that veterans at the Orting home are forced to carry oil lamps through the halls, risking catastrophic fire.
“These old and suffering men are carrying coal oil lamps around with them through the building... the lamps are liable to explode in the room.”
Grand Army veterans accuse the home’s board of planting a hired engineer and laundress to force out Commandant S. E. Street—and they want a judge to rule on the ouster.
“The commandant can only be dismissed for cause. Now what produced the cause that Mr. Street should be so ruthlessly turned out?”
Edgar Kimball, a Mormon settler who moved his family from Utah to Tacoma in search of purity, was found dead from morphine overdose in Orting after years of marital strife and accusations of infidelity.
The commandant of the state home for veterans faces a morals charge brought by an inmate.
“Premerger claims he surprised Street in a compromising position, and called a witness to prove it.”
A hospital doctor abruptly resigns his post and vanishes with the teenage daughter of a veteran, leaving behind incriminating letters and a local firestorm of gossip.
“For the past week the scandalmonger has been busy in ferreting out a report which has become the common topic of conversation.”
A visit to the state's veteran home reveals a self-sustaining community of Civil War heroes, romantics, and chicken farmers.
“Everything about the pig, even to its squeal, is used here, for when the menu contains pork only, those who do not like it, squeal.”
A young laborer loses his life in a logging accident, underscoring the lethal risks inherent in Washington's turn-of-the-century lumber industry.
“Smith was caught in the path of the falling timber and was pinned underneath it, crushing his body terribly and breaking his neck.”
A report on the successful founding, management, and low death rate at the new state-funded home for disabled soldiers.
“The Soldiers' home should by right be called the soldiers' farm, for, while the institution does not lack in any of the ordinary comforts of a city home, it is surrounded with all the healthy influences of a well-cared-for farm.”
A commandant of the Washington Soldiers' Home faces accusations of improper conduct, sparking a defensive manifesto signed by his comrades.
“I should be dragged into the petty spite and malice of a man who is a chronic growler and a man ambitious only to do evil.”
A defense attorney’s explosive courtroom conduct highlights a bitter family feud behind an arson charge in Orting.
“Considerable feeling was manifested by Attorney Easterday as he referred to Justice of the Peace J. M. Carson of Orting as 'the old woman with pink whiskers and wearing a night-cap.'”
A swamp hook recoils, claiming the life of a Swedish laborer in the woods near Orting.
“After falling backward from the log, he never regained consciousness.”
The state soldiers' home that legislators once laughed at now shelters 43 Civil War veterans, and cities across Washington are racing to outfit their quarters — Olympia's Relief Corps is fitting up an 'Olympia room.'
“"There wouldn't be an old soldier in Washington in ten years to take advantage of such a home." — a legislator, sneering, as quoted by the Tribune”
Forty-six veterans—including a father who lost three sons at Antietam—are already living at the state’s new home, which needs a federal per-resident allowance and a library.
“Even old newspapers we will be glad to have, for the guests can do nothing and literature is scarce.”
The Geo. H. Thomas Woman’s Relief Corps outfits a cozy room at the Soldiers’ Home in Orting, down to a rug made from sixteen raccoon skins.
“The committee met with entire success and “the Olympia room” will be far more cozy and comfortable than any room in the house at present.”
Legislators find that the 25 percent pension deduction at the state home was used to provide for the veterans' own care, not for drink.
“It was shown that the petitioners were largely men who liked to drink, and that the 25 per cent taken by the home was used in paying nurses for deceased veterans.”
A Vashon Island veteran says Orting's Soldiers' Home refused him a bed despite empty rooms. The commandant's friends say he never identified himself as a member.
“So Comrade Livesley was obliged to turn his back on the one institution which every old soldier's spirit should feel is his home if he so desires.”
A small-town financial institution fails after a dubious draft and questionable loans, leaving local depositors to face the consequences of 'loose management.'
“It is thought the closing of its doors is a strange bit of financiering, as its chattels will cover all liabilities.”
Pierce County farmers discover that Angora goats are the ultimate tool for clearing the rugged, wild Pacific Northwest landscape.
“The goats make an absolutely clean sweep, leaving nothing behind them... but the old stumps and logs.”
Two children playing near the Carbon River were nearly snatched by a massive cougar before a quick-thinking visitor intervened.
“It had been within a few feet of the children, and evidently was after them, although they knew nothing of its presence.”
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