A Fatal Accident on the Tide Flats
A local hotel proprietor dies in a hunting accident near the Tacoma waterfront.
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.
John Weber, age 43, the proprietor of the Lafayette Hotel, was killed while duck hunting on the tide flats near Tacoma. Weber had been hunting with a friend, F. Calhoun, when the two separated. Calhoun later discovered Weber’s body near their boat. Evidence suggests Weber accidentally discharged his own firearm while attempting to pull the weapon toward him by the muzzle, with the blast splintering his breastbone and lungs. Weber was a well-known local businessman, having previously operated the Albany Restaurant and the Lafayette Hotel.
“Death probably resulted instantly from a gunshot wound in the right side, presumably from an attempt to pull his gun from a boat by the muzzle.”
The tide flats of Tacoma were once bustling hunting and commercial grounds, drastically reshaped over the last century by industrial development. This accident serves as a dark reminder of the proximity of nature to urban life in early Washington.
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