The Tragic End of a Respected Citizen
A longtime resident of Montesano and Aberdeen dies by suicide while in an asylum.
Yesterday the sad news was received that Herman Kiehau had committed suicide at the asylum that morning. He was out walking with an attendant when he made an excuse and asked to be permitted to step to one side of the road for a moment, where he severed the jugular vein with a pen knife. The funeral services will take place from the Congregational church in Aberdeen, at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, August 18, under the auspices of Aberdeen lodge No. 31, A. O. U. W., of which he was a member. The interment will take place at Montesano. Herman Kiehau was born at Blottobruck, Prussia, in September, 1850. He had been an honored and respected citizen of the county for several years, first at Montesano, and for the last three years in this city. He leaves a wife and four children, who have the sympathy of the entire community.
“He leaves a wife and four children, who have the sympathy of the entire community.”
Reports of suicide in 19th-century newspapers were often blunt and detailed. This account highlights the quiet, personal tragedies that unfolded alongside the era's frantic industrial growth.
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