A Tragic Discovery in Port Townsend
A local grocer is found in a vacant lot with life-threatening wounds, leaving behind a letter indicating mental distress.
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.
John Way, an old English grocer living on Jefferson Street, near the courthouse in Port Townsend, was found in a vacant lot early yesterday morning with his throat and wrists cut. A bitter southeast rainstorm was beating down on his upturned face when he was heard groaning by a neighbor, Mrs. Hutchinson. He was taken home and has been hovering between life and death all day. He wrote a couple of letters, one addressed to the city attorney, clearly indicating that his mentality was deranged. He appeared to be worried over business affairs and threatened suicide. Tonight, the doctors despair of saving his life.
“A bitter southeast rainstorm was beating down on his upturned face when he was heard groaning.”
Mental health crises in the 1890s were often treated with a mixture of public shame and criminal framing. This account captures the stark isolation of that era's struggles, a harsh reminder of how little support systems existed for those in distress during the city's early days.
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