A Deadly Afternoon on the Duwamish

A shocking accident happened on the old Wyckoff place, four miles south of Seattle on the Duwamish river, at 4 o'clock Sunday afternoon, by which Mrs. Cowan, wife of Mr. Cowan, will probably lose her life. Mrs. Cowan and her husband had been at a neighbor's house to spend the afternoon and had been practicing shooting at a target. Mr. Cowan had with him a .32-calibre Colt's lightning rifle, from which he thought he had discharged the last cartridge. Returning to their own house, they went into the back yard and the husband sat upon the grass for a few moments handling the gun, which he after a time laid upon the steps. In doing so, he inadvertently raised the hammer and left it cocked. Mrs. Cowan stood near a water barrel at the corner of the house from which she had just taken a drink. A moment after setting the gun down, Mr. Cowan noticed that the gun was cocked, and he picked it up for the purpose of lowering the hammer when it slipped and discharged a cartridge that remained in the gun. The ball struck the top step and rebounding, struck Mrs. Cowan in the left fore arm, badly shattering the radius. Passing entirely through the arm, it entered her left side just above the hip and, ranging upward, lodged near the backbone. The wounded woman staggered and would have fallen had not her husband supported her. The husband then signaled to the little steamer Yuma, Captain Morrison, which was passing up the river with a pleasure party. Captain Morrison gave his little craft a full head of steam, reached Seattle in thirty-five minutes, and picked up Dr. Eagleson. In less than thirty minutes, they were back at the scene of the accident. The woman was taken to Providence Hospital, where, despite the severe trauma, she bore the pain bravely.