The Tragedy of the Straddled Log
A valuable horse owned by Schwabacher Bros. & Co. is found dead in the woods after a bizarre and fatal encounter with a fallen tree.
A valuable horse, belonging to Schwabacher Bros. & Co., has been missing for some time, and it was supposed he had strayed off or been stolen. Yesterday he was found out in the woods back of town, astride of a large fallen tree, and as dead as a mackerel. He is supposed to have attempted to jump the log and, getting astride of it in this peculiar manner, was unable to extricate himself and starved to death.
“Yesterday he was found out in the woods back of town, astride of a large fallen tree, and as dead as a mackerel.”
This odd, tragic item from 1878 highlights the rugged, often unpredictable nature of the early Pacific Northwest landscape, where commercial interests like Schwabacher Bros. & Co.—a massive mercantile empire that shaped the early Seattle economy—regularly contended with the physical hazards of the frontier.
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