Tragedy at a Seattle Home
A fourteen-month-old infant dies after drinking from a saucer of poisoned fly paper.
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.
Mary Forbes, the little daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander W. Forbes, who lived at 902 Lane street, died about 6 o'clock last evening as the result of a tragic accident. About 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Mrs. Forbes left the child, who was 14 months old, asleep in her carriage while she went upstairs to attend to chores. Close to the carriage was a center table, on which was placed a plate of water containing poison fly paper. When the child awoke, she reached up and pulled the plate off the stand, drinking some of the liquid. Mrs. Forbes discovered the plate in the carriage upon her return, and the infant soon became violently ill. Although a physician was summoned and the child appeared to rally momentarily, she succumbed later in the day. The grief-stricken parents had lost another child only a short time prior to this event.
“Mrs. Forbes left the child, who was 14 months old, asleep in the baby carriage, while she went upstairs to do some chamber work.”
This heartbreaking household accident reflects the era's common reliance on toxic chemical household products, many of which were left openly in reach of children. Today, the design of child-resistant packaging and safer pest control has transformed how we manage household hazards, though accidental poisonings remain a significant modern public health concern.
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