A Tragic End in Colfax
A woman took her own life in Colfax after being forced into sex work by her husband, a gambler.
Martha Wood, a fallen woman, committed suicide this morning by drinking morphine. She had quarters in the second story of a business block in the heart of the city. Her husband, George K. Wood, is a gambler, and forced her to her unfortunate level. She said on her death bed that she had earned a living for him. The couple were married in 1886 at Salem, Or. Her mother lives there now, and is wealthy. Other women of like character made up a purse to defray the burial expenses.
“She said on her death bed that she had earned a living for him.”
The reporting of this era often used dehumanizing language like 'fallen woman' to marginalize those facing domestic abuse and economic exploitation. Today, we recognize these stories as instances of coercive control and systemic neglect of vulnerable women, rather than moral failure.
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