The Death at Steilacoom They Would Not Let Be Explained Away
After an asylum superintendent told the public that a grieving family had accepted the official account, the parents of A. Shadle wrote to the Post-Intelligencer to say they believed their son was poisoned — and that nothing had changed.
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.
July 14, 1894.
To the Editor: We are in receipt of a clipping from a Washington paper, in which Dr. Waughop, of the Steilacoom asylum, assures the people that his visit East reconciled the parents of A. Shadle, after his talk with them, and that they no longer hold to the poisoning theory. We wish to state that this is not the case, but that we have never changed our minds for a minute, and our convictions are stronger than at first.
Why does Dr. Waughop make such an assertion? When, the next day, at the Toledo asylum, while in conversation, Dr. Rarick, one of the state trustees, asked him what impression he made on Mr. Shadle's father, he replied that he did not think he made any, but that he thought I held to the same opinion, and asked Dr. Rarick to see me and talk to me.
We wish that we could be reconciled and believe as Dr. Waughop claims, but circumstances and investigations point too strong to give us a shadow for a doubt.
MR. AND MRS. ALEX SHADLE.
“We wish that we could be reconciled and believe as Dr. Waughop claims, but circumstances and investigations point too strong to give us a shadow for a doubt.”
Families challenging institutional explanations of a death in custody is not a new story. Then as now, the official record and the family's account can diverge sharply, especially in state institutions where the people most affected have the least access to evidence. The Shadles' letter is a reminder that grief and suspicion can become a public demand for accountability.
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