Tragedy Claims a Local Athlete
A promising senior and local high school star passes away just days before he was set to leave for college.
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.
Archie Gilliam, a senior in the Walla Walla high school and one of the most popular of young men, died at the residence of his mother, Mrs. Anna Clements, at 120 West Chestnut street last night of typhoid fever. The young man contracted the fever five weeks ago while at work in harvest but had so far recovered last Sunday that he went for a short drive. He suffered a relapse Monday and since then had been in a critical condition. Mr. Gilliam was aged 17 years and had been a resident of Walla Walla for six years. The deceased for the past three years was prominent in high school athletics, being a member of the football and basket ball teams. At the August session of the board of county commissioners he was awarded the scholarship to the State Agricultural college at Pullman and had planned to leave for there today.
“The deceased for the past three years was prominent in high school athletics, being a member of the football and basket ball teams.”
Before the widespread availability of antibiotics and public sanitation, typhoid was a terrifyingly common cause of death among young people. This tragedy highlights the vulnerability of the pre-antibiotic era, where a healthy athlete could be lost to illness in mere weeks.
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