A Mystery in the Gilman Addition
A teenager is found dead in the woods near Boulevard station, leaving behind a haunting letter about social isolation and 'dissipated' life.
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.
The body of 17-year-old Robert F. Hickman was discovered yesterday morning about a quarter-mile west of Boulevard station in the Gilman addition. Hickman left a suicide note expressing deep despair, claiming he had suffered from years of misery and social contempt. He wrote of his struggle with his 'wild, willful and wayward disposition' and mentioned a friend who had recently died. His relatives in Seattle are at a complete loss to explain his motive, noting he had been working as an apprentice machinist at the Vulcan Iron Works and seemed happy. Coroner Dr. George M. Horton is conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
“This is not the freak of an idle and foolish mind, but the result of years of suffering, pain and misery.”
The Gilman addition, once a quiet area near the woods, is now a dense part of Seattle. The poignant, vulnerable tone of the letter speaks to the historical isolation of youth, a subject that remains as difficult and persistent in our civic conversation today as it was in 1893.
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