The Boy Who Saw His Own Death: A Seattle Tragedy of Premonition and Fate
In October 1876, a young professor driving near Seattle experienced a chilling vision of his own demise just days before he was killed in a runaway carriage accident.
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.
It is with feelings of deep distress that we are called upon to chronicle the particulars, as far as we can gather them, of a terrible accident which befell our young friend, Prof. W. K. F. Miller, last Tuesday evening, and which in all probability hastened his life had he not foreseen it from his home a few miles from Seattle town.
On Monday evening, while driving his buggy alone, his horse suddenly took fright. Some one or other of the reins getting tangled, the animal ran away at a fearful rate, throwing the driver out in a most frightful manner. His entire lower jaw was broken and his face terribly bruised. The horse, however, became detached and ran on at almost lightning speed until stopped by some people, who found Mr. M. lying in the road.
He was taken home and attended to, but the doctor gave it as his opinion that it was impossible for him to recover. His feet, however, perfectly recovered, and although, from the condition of his head, he could not eat or drink, still he conversed with his friends through the same night.
About two hours before the fatal incident occurred, he fell into a reverie, as if just conscious of the event which was to befall him. He was startled by what he called a clear and distinct voice uttering these words: 'In three days you will be a corpse.' This frightened him very much. He sprang at his horse and tried to look for shelter from the voice, but without success.
It was not long till he met his fatal fate.
This 1876 account of a 'premonition' reflects the era's fascination with spiritualism and the uncanny, blending local news with supernatural intrigue. While modern readers might view such claims through the lens of psychological trauma or coincidence following a near-fatal accident, it serves as a poignant reminder of how Seattle’s early residents processed sudden tragedy and mortality in a frontier town where danger was ever-present.
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