The Unlucky Quail Hunt on Squak Mountain
A teenage outing near modern-day Issaquah ends in a harrowing surgical emergency.
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.
Last Friday, while returning from a quail hunt near their home on Squak Mountain, Harry drew a pistol from his pocket to shoot at something. It went off, striking his companion, George, in the eyebrow, causing a painful, but not necessarily dangerous wound. George, the wounded young man, got on his horse and rode home with great difficulty, placing himself under the charge of Dr. Carpenter. The doctor probed the wound for over two inches, but failed to locate the ball. The skull is fractured where it entered, and it is his opinion that it drooped down just inside the skin and skull and will not seriously injure the brain.
“The skull is fractured where it entered, and it is his opinion that it drooped down just inside the skin and skull.”
Squak Mountain remains a popular destination for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts today, though the hazards are now more likely to be navigation-related than a stray pistol discharge. This incident serves as a grim reminder of the casual, often dangerous, proximity of firearms in daily life in the 1880s Washington Territory.
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