A Tailor's Desperate Act of Poverty
After faking his own death to spare his family the hardship of life in Seattle, a struggling tailor makes a series of harrowing, failed attempts to end his life.
The story, cleaned up
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Herman Harrison, a North Seattle tailor, who created a sensation last October by cabling his wife that he was dead, made several bungling efforts to commit suicide yesterday morning. Poverty caused the attempts. Harrison, a Russian immigrant, sent the fake death notice to keep his wife in England where he believed she would be better off. She arrived in Seattle in October regardless, and the family continued to struggle. Despondent and unable to provide, Harrison attempted to use morphine, a razor, and chloroform to end his life, yet survived each attempt. He was eventually taken to the police station for medical attention. Harrison remains at the station, expressing a belief that he is 'death-proof' while his wife navigates their dire financial circumstances.
“He said that it was a hard to month struggle for bread with him, and if his family came it would be worse.”
Harrison’s story is a heartbreaking look at the intersection of migration, poverty, and mental health in the 1890s. The struggle of immigrant families in Seattle to find stability mirrors the persistent economic pressures faced by low-income residents in the city today.
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