The Mysterious Disappearance of a Pasco Hotelier
A hotel proprietor who left a suicide note for his wife is discovered alive in Nevada weeks later.
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.
A. M. Riminger, proprietor of the McFarland hotel in Pasco, who mysteriously disappeared about two months ago leaving a note for his wife saying he intended ending his life in the river, returned to Pasco last Saturday. He had been in Nevada instead of the Columbia river. According to his story he had been drinking excessively and has no recollection of what led him to leave here or of writing the suicide note to his wife. He “came to” for the first time in a mountain town in Nevada. Realizing his condition, he wrote his wife asking her if she wished him to return. Upon the receipt of a reassuring reply he came back.
“He “came to” for the first time in a mountain town in Nevada.”
Public mental health resources and awareness regarding substance abuse crises have evolved significantly, yet the stigma surrounding such events remains a persistent challenge in small communities. This story highlights how the lack of communication and support networks in the early 20th century turned personal mental health struggles into lurid public spectacles.
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