The Tragedy of Henry Hubert
An elderly veteran with a history of addiction attempts suicide on the outskirts of Kent.
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.
Henry Hubert, a man something over 60 years of age, attempted suicide at Kent on Thursday forenoon by taking hydrate of chloral. He was discovered by Dr. Hose while riding inside the railroad track, about a quarter of a mile south of town. The man was prostrate and in such a position as to render it certain to the doctor that he was not simply drunk. Dismounting, the doctor examined the man and found life nearly extinct. Believing that he was suffering from poison, he applied the stomach pump with good results. Hubert has since been improving and is now able to walk. He fails to thank the physician for saving his life as he had fully made up his mind to go. Hubert is an old soldier, drawing a pension which he secured last spring while in the Soldiers' home in California. He is well known about here, having been a bookkeeper in various logging camps in this county off and on for about eight years. He has long been addicted to the excessive use of liquor and often, when recovering from a debauch, has threatened to take his life. Before the liquor habit fastened upon him with so firm a grasp, he was considered to be the finest accountant that ever came into the White river valley.
“He fails to thank the physician for saving his life as he had fully made up his mind to go.”
This story highlights the systemic struggles of veterans in the post-Civil War era, specifically regarding isolation, pension dependence, and the lack of mental health resources in the region's logging camps.
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