Tragedy at Brush Prairie
After the long illness and death of his wife, a grieving man takes his own life in the room where she lay.
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 wife of Thomas H. McKee, daughter of Mr. G. N. Usher of Brush Prairie, died last Saturday from consumption, after a lingering illness of two or three years, leaving four children, two of whom were partially crippled. Long illness and attendant expenses had reduced the family in circumstances, and some time since the family removed from their ranch on Salmon creek to Mr. Usher's place. On Monday morning, Mr. McKee declined to take breakfast and laid down in the room where the body of his wife was in the coffin. After breakfast, the members of the family going into the room found Mr. McKee in convulsions, and he died within fifteen minutes after. Monday forenoon, at the request of the family and neighbors, John F. Smith, J. P., of Vancouver, summoned a coroner's jury, and held an inquest. During the examination of witnesses, an adopted son testified he saw deceased go to a box and take out a small vial filled with a white powder, and as McKee died with all the symptoms of strychnine poisoning, a verdict was rendered that he had died of poison administered by his own hand. Other evidence was produced that he had threatened suicide at various times. It is the impression of many people that his misfortunes and the sickness in his family had made him partially demented.
“It is the impression of many people that his misfortunes and the sickness in his family had made him partially demented.”
While Brush Prairie remains a community, this account highlights the crushing weight of medical debt and the lack of social safety nets in the late 19th century—a grim precursor to modern anxieties regarding the high cost of healthcare and end-of-life care in America.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.