A Deadly Runaway Near Lakeside
An Italian gardener dies in agony after a team of horses bolts, dragging him through the road.
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.
Such fearful injuries were sustained by Sam Talarico, an Italian gardener in a runaway accident west of the city at noon yesterday that the unfortunate man died in fearful agony at 3 o'clock this morning at his home. Talarico was engaged in hauling onions from the Tachi place to town, using two horses in the work. As he was driving by Lakeside the team took fright and dashed away. Talarico was pitched from the swaying wagon, but instead of alighting by the side of the road he became entangled in the lines dangling at the horses' feet and was dragged quite a distance, the sharp shoes of the horses striking him at every jump. A distressing feature of Talarico's tragic death is that he was soon to have been married, his intended bride now being on her way to Walla Walla from Italy.
“There was hardly a spot on the man's body that was not torn and bruised.”
This tragic report highlights the ever-present dangers in the agricultural landscape of early 20th-century Walla Walla. It also captures a glimpse of the era's immigrant experience, as Talarico was one of many European workers laboring in the local gardens while awaiting a new life with family from abroad.
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