A Pretty Waitress's Secret Journey Ended in Poison at Tacoma
Nineteen-year-old Miss Johnson told no one when she left her Fourth Street job, slipped away to Tacoma, and took strychnine. Her family in Olalla learned only after the end.
Miss Johnson, the daughter of Albert Johnson, of Olalla, left her position as a waitress on Fourth Street, in this city, a few days ago and went secretly to Tacoma and took poison and died. The girl, who was 19 years old and decidedly pretty, did not wish to die alone, and on Sunday morning took strychnine, which threw her into intense agony; but after hours she was found. A friend stayed with her at the time but returned in time to hear her admit that she had taken poison and to see her die. The coroner held an inquest.
“She was 19 years old and decidedly pretty.”
A young woman's isolation, a sudden train journey, and a death far from home — the story survives only because a coroner's inquest made it news. Today's rural-to-city migration and the youth mental-health crisis echo the same pattern of people slipping out of view between a small town like Olalla and the city.
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