Fatal Gun Mishap on the Trail
A man living near Renton is found dead after his firearm apparently discharged while he was setting it down.
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.
C. F. McLaren shot himself dead yesterday near Renton, and though there were no witnesses, the conclusion from the position of the body and the gun is that the shooting was accidental. McLaren had been living during the winter with his old friend, James H. Morgan, about two and one-half miles west of Renton. About 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, Morgan accompanied his wife to the boat as she was coming to Seattle. On his way back, a neighbor named Johnson asked him who was doing the shooting, and said the report did not sound like his (Morgan's) gun. Morgan supposed the shooting was done by McLaren but decided to investigate the matter. When he arrived home, he found the house locked, but entered and looked for his gun, which was missing. He and Johnson followed down a trail toward the woods and about fifty yards from the house found McLaren's dead body, having the left side of the head completely blown off. From the appearances of the wound the charge had struck under the chin in an upward direction and the only way the accident could be accounted for was that McLaren had set the gun down on the butt, when from some unknown cause the weapon was discharged. He had evidently started for a place half a mile from the house, where he and Morgan had been cutting wood, and had taken the gun along against seeing any game. McLaren had a brother residing in this city. His remains will be brought to Seattle today by Bonney & Stewart.
“The only way the accident could be accounted for was that McLaren had set the gun down on the butt, when from some unknown cause the weapon was discharged.”
Accidental discharges involving long guns in the woods were a relatively common tragedy in early Washington, reminding us of the era's reliance on private arms for food and predator control. Today, the rural areas around Renton have largely been subsumed by residential development, making such wilderness accidents a distant, historical memory.
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