A Hunter’s Sudden Tragedy on Chambers Prairie
A young man’s life is cut short in a freak accident while hunting near the Deschutes River.
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.
On Sunday last, Mr. Samuel H. Smith, of Chambers Prairie, while out hunting deer near the Deschutes river, was almost instantly killed by the accidental discharge of his gun. While he was standing on a log, with his gun by his side, as hunters often do, the gun, a double-barreled shotgun, slipped down and the contents of one barrel, loaded heavily with buckshot, were fired into his bowels. He called to his comrades that he was shot through and through, and in a few minutes breathed his last. Howard, as he was called, was a son of Mr. Jacob Smith, of this county, and was born May 2d, 1848, at Indianapolis, Indiana, and came to this Territory when quite a small lad. He was a sober, industrious, and highly respected young man, and leaves hosts of friends to lament his sad demise. He was a brother of Mrs. Nat. Crosby and Mr. R. R. Smith of this city; of Mrs. E. T. Dodge, of Olympia; of Ed. Hannon, of Steilacoom and of Mrs. Frank Pontus, of Seattle. The funeral took place on Tuesday, from the residence of the parents on Chambers Prairie, and the remains consigned to the grave in the Masonic Cemetery, the services being conducted by Rev. Mr. Utter, and attended by a large concourse of the friends of the deceased.
“While he was standing on a log, with his gun by his side, as hunters often do, the gun, a double-barreled shotgun, slipped down and the contents of one barrel were fired into his bowels.”
This account of a tragic firearm accident serves as a stark reminder of the rural realities in the Washington Territory, where life was often lived in close proximity to the hazards of the frontier. Today, Chambers Prairie remains a distinct geographic landmark near Olympia, retaining the same name while the surrounding landscape has shifted from rugged hunting grounds to suburban and semi-rural expansion.
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