A Desperate Tailor's Public Plea at the Postmaster's Door
After his wife fled to Tacoma to work in the post office, a destitute man attempted to take his own life on the doorstep of her employer.
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.
TACOMA, Jan. 8.—Samuel Brinker, aged 26, a tailor by trade, made an unsuccessful attempt at suicide this evening by swallowing an ounce of chloroform on the porch of Postmaster Hogue's residence, on Tacoma Avenue and South Seventh Street. He was found by Hogue and taken to the police station. He will recover, although he says he wants to die. Brinker's wife is a pretty, rosy-cheeked, gray-eyed woman of 23, but does not look over 18. She is a niece of Postmaster Hogue, and a native of Pennsylvania. Three years ago she married Brinker at Geneva, Ohio, his home. Although of good habits before his marriage, Brinker has since dissipated, and a year ago his wife left him. Coming to Tacoma, she secured a position in the post office. She thought Brinker would not follow her, but he did, and she now says she thinks he did so in the hope of extorting money from her. Before leaving him, Mrs. Brinker says she signed over to him nearly all her property, and believes that Brinker thought she had more and came on hoping to get it. Brinker has had little or no work and has spent most of the time haunting Hogue's house, where Mrs. Brinker has been stopping. It is feared that Brinker may attempt to kill his wife, and the chief of police will compel him to leave town or be locked up.
“She thought Brinker would not follow her, but he did, and she now says she thinks he did so in the hope of extorting money from her.”
This 1891 report reflects the era's tendency to villainize the husband while highlighting the precarious economic independence of a woman fleeing a controlling domestic situation. Today, this reads as a chilling example of domestic stalking, showing that the dangers of coercive control and the difficulty of finding safety after leaving an abusive partner have deep, dark roots in the Pacific Northwest.
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