The Snohomish Runaway
A husband’s search for his wife ends in a bitter surprise after she leaves him penniless at a hotel.
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.
The Snohomish paper states that on Saturday the 6th instant, a married couple from this city arrived at that place and took rooms at the Exchange Hotel. After a few days, the husband concluded to go up the river to make some preliminary arrangements with parties with whom he was to engage in logging until spring. Before leaving, he stated that his wife would remain at the hotel until he could make suitable arrangements at the camp for her accommodation. Soon after his departure, however, the lady became lonesome and restless, picked up her trunks, and departed on the steamer. The husband returned, and finding that she had left, was quite disconcerted. He states that his wife took with her all his cash capital—leaving him penniless—but left his wardrobe. He embarked on the outgoing steamer in search of the absconding woman. We would add that the person in question has resided in this city for some time, and, being a worthy man, has the sympathies of all who know him. He returned here a few days ago, after having pursued the woman far enough to learn that she had absconded with another man and left for parts unknown.
“He states that his wife took with her all his cash capital—leaving him penniless—but left his wardrobe.”
While this 1877 account reads like a classic melodrama, it captures a glimpse of the social instability inherent in the transient, male-dominated logging economy of early Washington. Today, the Exchange Hotel would have stood near the heart of Snohomish, a town that has evolved from a rugged frontier outpost into a historic hub, yet still grapples with the same themes of economic precarity and shifting personal fortunes.
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