A Final Journey from Kansas to Hover
A young pharmacist’s search for health in the Washington climate ends in tragedy.
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.
Cassius Elbert Edwards was born in Sterling, Kansas, on June 30, 1881, and died May 27, at the home of his sister, Mrs. Q. C. Cantwell, of Hover, at the age of 35 years, 10 months and 27 days. Mr. Edwards was a pharmacist by profession and filled this position till he was forced to give up and seek for health, which he did by coming to Washington five weeks ago, but his constitution was too badly impaired and he died suddenly and very unexpectedly from a hemorrhage of the lungs. A short and impressive funeral service was held at the Mueller Undertaking parlors Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock by Elder J. J. Netherly, of College Place, Wash.
“He was forced to give up and seek for health, which he did by coming to Washington five weeks ago.”
In the early 20th century, the American West was a common destination for 'health seekers' suffering from tuberculosis and other respiratory ailments, believing the dry climate would provide a cure. Many who arrived in communities like Hover and Kennewick were, like Edwards, in the final stages of their illness, highlighting the desperate, mobile nature of the era’s medical migrations.
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