The Tragedy of the Park Policeman
A beloved Point Defiance figure succumbs to a delayed internal injury from a past encounter with an angry bull.
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.
Late Saturday night George Austin, aged 65 years, died suddenly at his home near Point Defiance park. Only a short time before he had apparently been a well man and there was not the slightest indication of the near approach of death. He had been down town in the evening to buy a suit of clothes, and after returning home had attended to the evening chores. Later in the evening he walked from his home to Hank's grocery store to order some provisions. He went to bed about 10 o'clock and in less than an hour Mrs. Austin heard him breathing as if in distress. She attempted to rouse him, but failed. Dr. Balabanoff was summoned, but when she reached the house the man was a corpse. The doctor said that death had been caused by a hemorrhage due to an injury inflicted about three weeks ago by a bull which he kept on the place. Becoming angry, the animal attempted to gore him, and, forcing him against the fence, crushed his chest. Mr. Austin had lived on Point Defiance 14 years. Most of that time he was employed as park policeman. In his official capacity he was brought into contact with a great many people, many of whom became his personal friends. Even the animals in the park loved him.
“Even the animals in the park loved him and there was no one who could handle them as easily as Mr. Austin.”
The sudden loss of a community fixture like George Austin resonates with the modern appreciation for the human faces behind our public spaces. Point Defiance remains the heart of Tacoma's park system, and stories of the park's early caretakers remind us of the site's long-standing connection to local life.
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