Military Commander Dies Suddenly at Camp Murray
The sudden passing of Colonel F. E. Trotter, instructor of the Washington National Guard, leaves the militia camp in mourning and suspends all training exercises.
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Colonel F. E. Trotter, who had been in attendance at and instructing the camp of the National Guard of Washington at Camp Murray, died very suddenly this afternoon at 4:55 o'clock. Colonel Trotter was attacked with a spell of apoplexy at 11:53 o'clock, and was unconscious on and off until he died. Nervous prostration, occasioned by the heat, is supposed to have hastened the attack. Flags are at half-mast in the camp. General Curry immediately issued orders suspending all exercises until further orders. Colonel Trotter, 54, had a long and honorable military record, serving from the Civil War through the regular army and eventually acting as instructor for the state militia. He leaves behind an invalid wife and five children.
“The camp tonight is as quiet as the grave in honor of an officer whom the guardsmen thought the world of.”
Camp Murray remains a key training site for the Washington National Guard today, serving as a vital piece of the state's emergency and disaster response infrastructure, much as it served as a training hub in the 1890s.
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