The Man Who Bought a Pile-Driven Mind
A Seattle laborer’s sudden descent into delusion—claiming he lost $5,000 to a ghost and that neighbors were plotting his murder—leaves the court baffled and his family terrified.
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.
Edmund Guthrie, who has been engaged in pile-driving and wharf-building around Seattle for a number of years, was arrested at his home, 2454 Second Street, yesterday afternoon upon a charge of lunacy, sworn out in the probate court by his brother-in-law, Henry E. Stumer.
According to the stories of Mr. Stumer, Mrs. Guthrie, and several other witnesses at the hearing held last evening, Mr. Guthrie has been losing his mind for some time. About six months ago he said his pile-driver, which was well worth $500, sold to Allen & Nelson for $1,000, and this money has all disappeared in some manner unaccountable to his family.
During the past few weeks he has been engaged as workman on a pile-driver; but has neglected his work to wander about town on 'some business' of which he keeps secret from his wife and all his friends, and which they think is purely imaginary.
Mr. Guthrie was placed on the stand to testify in his own behalf. He presented no signs of insanity other than that his speech was indistinct, and slightly incoherent. He told a story of financial reverses, and said that he had had considerable trouble, but that his health and mind were as good as they had ever been. He then told of some trouble he had had with his neighbors over a plank he had laid in front of his house for a cross walk, and said that the neighbors had threatened to kill him if he didn't remove it.
Mrs. Guthrie and the other witnesses claimed that this was one of his hallucinations; but the court decided to give the matter further consideration and continued the case until 10 o'clock this morning, when the parties with whom Mr. Guthrie alleges he had the trouble will be required to appear as witnesses.
The case is a very puzzling one, Mr. Guthrie's apparent sanity being diametrically opposed to the testimony of several witnesses. If on the hearing today he is proven to be incapable of attending to his business affairs and managing his property a guardian will, likely, be appointed over his person and estate; but it is not at all probable that he will be committed to the asylum unless positive evidence is brought to show that he is unsafe to be at large.
This 1905 account of Edmund Guthrie’s mental health crisis highlights how 'lunacy' was once a legal mechanism for family members to seize control of a relative's assets and liberty. Today, we have more nuanced medical and legal frameworks for involuntary commitment and guardianship, yet the tension between individual autonomy, family concern, and state power remains a potent ethical dilemma in elder care and mental health law.
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