A Dangerous Journey Home from Church
A quiet Sunday excursion in Snohomish takes a terrifying turn when a startled team of horses crashes, leaving a daughter critically injured.
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.
On last Sunday, as the wife, daughter, and son of Dr. Kellogg were returning from the church on the island in company with a gentleman by the name of Hill and Miss Agnes Winsor of Seattle, they reached the gate at the entrance to the lane near the Doctor’s residence. While attempting to pass by the partly opened gate into the lane without opening it wider, the horses took fright. Mr. Hill and Mr. Albert Kellogg either got out or were accidentally thrown out, and the horses escaped their control, running into a field containing a great many stumps and throwing the ladies out of the wagon. All escaped with comparatively slight injuries except Miss Alice Kellogg, who, besides receiving internal injuries and having her collarbone broken, was rendered unconscious for twenty-four hours. She now lies very low from her injuries; her mind wanders, she is troubled with spitting of blood, and it is feared the result may be dangerous to her health, if not fatal. Fortunately, the Doctor arrived from a call a couple of hours after the accident, and everything that could be done was done for the relief of those injured. The Doctor has the sympathy of the whole community in this severe calamity that has befallen his family.
“She now lies very low from her injuries; her mind wanders, she is troubled with spitting of blood, and it is feared the result may be dangerous to her health, if not fatal.”
This harrowing account of a carriage accident reflects the unpredictable hazards of 19th-century rural life in Snohomish. While the horse-and-buggy dangers have vanished, the community’s impulse to rally around a prominent local family during a 'calamity' remains a hallmark of small-town life.
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