Tragedy in Marysville
A mother is committed to the state asylum after an attempted murder-suicide in a woodshed.
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 sensational attempt at child murder and suicide occurred at Marysville, near Snohomish, last week. Mrs. John Fisher, whose mental health had been failing, was discovered by her sister in a woodshed with a hatchet poised over her year-old child's neck. The weapon was wrestled away. The following day, Mrs. Fisher attempted to take her own life with a butcher knife sharpened to a razor's edge before being disarmed by her brother. Mrs. Fisher was brought to Seattle, examined by Dr. Shannon, and committed to the asylum at Steilacoom.
“Mrs. Fisher was standing over a chopping block across which she had the neck of her year-old babe.”
Mental health crises in 1890 were often met with little more than removal to distant institutions like the one in Steilacoom, reflecting a stark difference in modern psychiatric support.
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