A Logger's Final Despair
After being robbed of his life savings in a Tacoma resort, a distraught logger takes his own life in a series of desperate acts.
Despondent over the loss of $600, his entire savings, which were stolen from him by a woman in a Tacoma resort last Monday night, Oscar Larson, a logger, made two savage attempts to end his life at Kapowsin last night, and died as a result at 1 o'clock this afternoon after being brought to the Pierce County Hospital. Larson made the first attempt to kill himself in a lodging house at Kapowsin last night. Using a razor, he slashed his throat several times, cutting deeply into the esophagus. Inmates of the lodging house discovered him in the nick of time and summoned a physician. While the physician was working over the man, Larson struggled violently and succeeded in getting away. Running from the house with blood streaming from the gaping hole in his throat, he flung himself in front of a logging train, which was approaching. The train passed over his left arm near the elbow, crushing it terribly. The intense pain rendered the logger unconscious, and spectators carried him back to the lodging house. With pulse very low, he was brought to Tacoma this morning by County Jailer James W. Muir. He died within an hour of reaching the hospital. The woman who robbed Larson has not been apprehended.
“Next day he appeared at the police station in a hopelessly dejected state of mind, declaring that he would commit suicide rather than go back to work.”
This tragedy highlights the vulnerability of itinerant laborers in turn-of-the-century Tacoma, whose precarious existence often left them with no support network after a single catastrophe. Today, the loss of $600 would be a significant setback, but in 1909, it represented an entire life's capital, illustrating how the 'resort' and boarding-house districts were dangerous traps for the city's transient workforce.
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