The Tragic Passing of Little Johnnie Alden
A grief-stricken child follows his father to the grave, unable to survive the loss of his hero.
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.
About two months ago, a man named Alden, a carpenter, died from the effects of a wound received during the Civil War. He left a wife and a little son, Johnnie, aged 8 years. The boy was greatly attached to his father, and when the parent's body was buried, Johnnie had to be held back by force. He continued to cry and refused food. In order to divert his mind, Mrs. Alden took the boy to Portland, but the change had no apparent effect. She had him examined by a physician, who said he was suffering from mental trouble. He grew weaker day by day and never seemed to recover from the shock the death of his father had given him. He was brought home and went to bed, never to leave it alive. Just before he died, he roused up and said: 'Give me my hat, Papa. I am coming.' He then sank back on his pillow and expired. The next day, little Johnnie was laid by the side of the papa he so dearly loved, and over whose death he grieved his own life away. Mrs. Alden is surrounded by friends, but cannot be comforted.
“Give me my hat, Papa. I am coming.”
While this account reflects 19th-century sentimentalism, it captures the devastating, silent impacts of trauma on children—a struggle that remains a critical focus of modern pediatric mental health advocacy in Seattle today.
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