Tragedy at the Queen City Hotel
A young rancher from Vashon Island, who traveled to Seattle to sell a shipment of shingle bolts, dies after being overcome by gas in his hotel room.
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.
George McLaughlin, the young Vashon Island rancher who fell a victim to gas in the Queen City hotel on South Second street Sunday morning, died at 3:30 o'clock yesterday morning without recovering consciousness. Coroner Horton was notified by Doctors Newland and Askam, who stayed with the unfortunate young man day and night until the battle for life was lost, and the remains were removed to Bonney & Stewart's undertaking rooms. Thor Oliverson, who was McLaughlin's partner at Vashon Island in the shingle bolt business, found his partner yesterday through the account in the Post-Intelligencer and was with him when he breathed his last. They came to Seattle Saturday with a load of bolts and missed the return boat. Oliverson went to North Seattle and stayed at his sister's house, and supposed McLaughlin would go to his aunt's at 619 James street, or to Tacoma and take the boat to Vashon Island from there, there being no means of transportation on Sunday from Seattle. McLaughlin's parents, who live near Toronto, have been notified.
“Doctors Newland and Askam, who stayed with the unfortunate young man day and night until the battle for life was lost.”
This tragic incident reflects the precarious nature of boarding houses and hotels in the rapidly expanding Seattle of the 1890s. While gas lighting was the standard of the era, faulty equipment or accidental leaks were frequent, fatal hazards for laborers visiting the city.
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