A Hotel Room, a Gas Jet, and a Fight for One Young Life

George McLaughlin, a young Vashon Island rancher, was found insensible in room 43 at the Queen City Hotel yesterday morning at 11 o'clock from the effects of gas. The physicians in charge labored with him all day and did not give up hope until midnight, when the verdict was given that he could live but a short time. It is thought by all who knew the young man that he turned out the gas and at the same time turned it on. He was a hard-working, light-hearted fellow, without bad habits, and had $70 under his pillow when found. By a process of elimination the theory of suicide would be excluded.

McLaughlin came into the hotel about 11 o'clock at night, registered and was assigned to an inside room, No. 43. He was perfectly sober, and carried a bundle in which were a pair of shoes and some pencils. In accordance with the rules of the hotel he was given a candle, although there was gas in the room. The object of this on the part of the proprietor is economy and protection to people who come in late and might not handle the gas fixtures properly.

McLaughlin was seen to come downstairs about 8 o'clock in the morning, and then go back to bed. He did not talk to any one, and nothing unusual was observed in his manner. At 11 o'clock one of the lodgers came running downstairs and told porter Michael Donough that some one was groaning in room 43, and that he could smell gas in the hall. Donough went to the room and found the door locked, the transom closed tightly, and from inside he could hear the dull groans of a person in distress. He forced up the window that opens on the hall and found McLaughlin lying in bed undressed and breathing heavily in a dense atmosphere.

He turned off the gas and then, picking up the stupefied man, took him across the hall to an outside room. The windows were thrown open and word sent to Drs. George Newlands and Oliver P. Askam. They arrived in a short time and commenced the work of resuscitation. From the beginning there did not seem to be a chance for the unfortunate young man, for at the least calculation he had been breathing the poisonous combination for three hours. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon the doctors still kept on with their efforts, although the patient had not roused or responded in the least to the oxygen pumped into his lungs. It seemed as if the gas had permeated every pore and so thoroughly taken hold of the blood that it was simply a question of a few hours before the young and vigorous life must give up the battle. The doctors agreed that were it not for a vigorous constitution the dread messenger would have been admitted before.

At 4:30 o'clock McLaughlin's condition changed for the better, and, though his heart was weak, the color in his face became normal and he moved once or twice. From then on to 9:30 o'clock there was little change and the main hope lay in the possibility that he would be able to stand the stimulants given by hypodermic injections. Drs. Askam and Newlands were both at the bedside at midnight and said the patient was rapidly losing strength and the end was not far distant.

George McLaughlin was about 22 years old, a native of Canada, born near Toronto, and had been in this country four years. He took up a ranch on Vashon Island and worked in a shingle mill. His father and mother are alive and he has an aunt, Mrs. Robert Goodburn, living at 619 James street, this city.