Fourth Suicide Reported at Steilacoom Asylum Since January
A patient at the state hospital takes his own life, marking a string of recent tragedies at the institution.
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.
J. A. Graham, a patient in the insane asylum at Steilacoom, committed suicide early this morning by hanging himself to the top rail of his bed with a rope made from strips of sheet which he had tied together. About 3 o'clock a man who occupied the same room with him was awakened by an unusual noise, and upon making an investigation, found Graham's lifeless body. The man was kneeling on the floor with the improvised rope drawn tightly about his neck. This is the second suicide case reported from the asylum this week and the fourth since January 11. Graham was committed from Snohomish county, and had been in the hospital since March 16. He was 44 years old. He was not violently insane, but was a sufferer from melancholia and intense depression.
“This is the second suicide case reported from the asylum this week and the fourth since January 11.”
This sobering report highlights the long-standing crisis of mental healthcare and the lack of proper oversight in institutional settings, an issue that remained a dark undercurrent in Pacific Northwest history for decades.
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