The Man Who Tried to Drown Himself—and Then Vanished
A former Mount Vernon liveryman and stagecoach mail driver, remembered for jumping into the Skagit and swimming out because the water was too cold, is pulled from the river months later.
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.
SEDRO, Jan. 14.—Special.—The body of a man supposed to be Bulldog Davis was found in the Skagit River near this place yesterday. The county coroner has been notified and will hold an inquest today. The body is in a good state of preservation to have been in the water so long.
Mr. Davis attempted suicide last September by jumping into the river at Sauk, but found the water too chilly and swam ashore. Soon afterward he was missing, and nothing has been heard from him since. He was about 50 years old and without a family. He was well known in Skagit Valley, having run a livery stable in Mount Vernon and later carried the mail by stage from Mount Vernon to Sauk.
“He attempted suicide last September by jumping into the river at Sauk, but found the water too chilly and swam ashore.”
The Skagit River still shapes the towns along its bends, and the old stage and livery economy is gone, but the valley’s habit of remembering its characters—and its drownings—remains. The inquest that followed would have been a public way of closing a story that began with a man choosing the river and then changing his mind.
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