A Fourth of July Tragedy in Snohomish
A spirited colt runs away during the holiday celebration, resulting in the death of a 20-year-old rider.
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.
An accident of a painful nature occurred at Snohomish City on the Fourth. A colt belonging to J. B. Roberts was to be run against another horse. The colt was spirited and a little timid. Owing to the excitement and the unusual circumstances by which it was surrounded, the colt bolted the track in the first heat and threw its rider. A son of Mr. Roberts, known as Eddy Roberts, was so confident of the colt's ability to win that he mounted it for the second heat. When the colt began to show speed, the crowd shouted and threw up their hats, frightening the animal. The colt bolted the track again. Eddy, seeing he was about to be carried into a dump of stumps, leaped off, but the momentum carried him into them with great force. One arm was shattered, a thigh bone broken, and he suffered internal injuries. The race and all other features of the celebration were at once suspended. The steamer Alki was chartered to bring the boy to Seattle for surgical aid, but he passed away before noon the next day. Eddy Roberts was a clever, estimable young man of about 20 years of age.
“The race and all other features of the celebration were at once suspended.”
This tragic story captures the raw, improvised nature of early pioneer celebrations in Snohomish County. The death of a young man during a holiday race serves as a stark reminder of the risks associated with the high-stakes, unregulated public amusements common in the territory's expansion era.
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