A Whitworth Student's Despair
After reading 'trashy' novels, a 16-year-old student attempts suicide twice in one day.
Coyle Brumbaugh, 16-year-old daughter of W. H. H. Brumbaugh, 5832 South Cedar street, made two unsuccessful attempts to end her life by drowning Thursday. Miss Brumbaugh is a student of the Whitworth college. She left school Thursday forenoon, and clambering down the steep bluff in front of the institution, waded into the water of the sound and allowed herself to sink beneath the surface. She was rescued by fishermen. Later, while the men were rowing her to their cottage, she jumped overboard, but was again rescued. Miss Coyle had no definite reasons for wishing to commit suicide. She says that she had read a great deal of the 'trashy' novels at school, and that they had affected her mind so much that she decided life wasn't worth living after all.
“She says that she had read a great deal of the 'trashy' novels at school, and that they had affected her mind so much that she decided life wasn't worth living after all.”
This account reflects the era's tendency to blame 'popular fiction' or 'trashy novels' for adolescent mental health crises, a moral panic that bears striking resemblance to modern concerns about the impact of social media algorithms on teenagers.
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