Tragedy in the Woods: Storm Claims Lives at Crescent Bay
A young family seeking shelter from a gale-force windstorm in the woods meets a sudden, heartbreaking end when a falling tree strikes their home.
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.
Port Townsend, W. T., April 3.—Information reached here today of an accident at Crescent Bay, during the wind storm of Monday, that resulted in the death of the wife of a man named Thompson, and the dangerous injury of the husband. Thompson and his family lived in a new house in the woods, and the swaying of the trees in the storm so frightened them that they left the dwelling for some place of safety. When just outside the door, a large tree fell, pinning Thompson and his wife to the ground, and injuring her to such extent that she soon expired. Thompson was badly hurt, but he extricated himself from beneath the tree, and picking up the baby, which had been in his wife's arms, and which was uninjured, he dragged himself back into the house. Here he became unconscious and was found in that condition next day by a neighbor. At last accounts, Thompson was alive.
“The swaying of the trees in the storm so frightened them that they left the dwelling for some place of safety.”
This 1889 report from Port Townsend captures the raw vulnerability of living in the Pacific Northwest forests—a reality that persists in modern times during our intense windstorms. While infrastructure has advanced, the story of a family caught in the elements serves as a sobering reminder of the power of the natural landscape that continues to shape and challenge life in Washington state today.
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