The Tragic Cost of a Local Election Bet
A Tacoma restaurant owner took his own life after reportedly wagering his last ninety dollars on a mayoral candidate.
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.
This morning, the dead body of G. R. Martin was found in the kitchen of the Liberty Coffee House, near Fourteenth Street on Pacific Avenue, of which Martin was proprietor. He had suicided by shooting himself through the head. There is no cause known for the suicide except that the deceased lost money on a restaurant he had at Edison and had bet his last $90 on Alexander Parker for mayor and lost. He had a family. The impression is that the loss drove him to blow out his brains. Some of his friends say he did not bet on Parker. The Tacoma Turn Verein has charge of the remains. Martin leaves a wife and five small children. The Turn Verein society has no funds and money has been raised by subscription to bury the remains.
“The impression is that the loss drove him to blow out his brains.”
While election fever often brings high drama, this tragic incident underscores the volatile desperation of economic life in late 19th-century Washington. It reflects a time when public betting on local politics was common, mirroring the ways that financial instability continues to intersect with civic life in Pacific Northwest cities today.
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