A Desperate End at a Seattle Boarding House
A young traveler from Nebraska succumbs to despair and alcohol, leaving behind a brief note for his kin.
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 Sunday, a young man named Charles Huppock, aged 27 years, arrived in Seattle from Decatur, Nebraska, on his way to California. While here, he took to drinking, and after a two or three days' spree, he became utterly despondent and committed suicide by taking a dose of poison. His brother, Lime Huppock, was interviewed by a reporter regarding the affair, and made the following statement: 'My brother accompanied my wife and son to Seattle from Nebraska, arriving here Monday last. Soon after getting here he commenced drinking and avoided me. I last saw him alive at 1 o'clock Tuesday afternoon. He was then slightly under the influence of liquor, and as he was going to his room in the rear of Wirth's new restaurant, I said nothing to him. He was usually an early riser. His room adjoined the one occupied by myself and wife, and the next morning I noticed he was not stirring around. I waited till 7 o'clock, and hearing nothing to indicate that he had waked up I sent my little son, Frankie, to his room to see what was the matter. The door was locked, and he could not get in. I gave him a key with which to unlock the door, and he soon came running back saying that Charley was dead. I hastened to his room, only to find the statement too true. I first supposed he had died from the direct effects of liquor, but on searching the room I found several scraps of paper on which he had written farewell messages, and afterwards chewed them up and thrown them behind the bureau. None of these were intelligible, but on one these words were plainly visible, written in his natural hand, with a pencil: 'Friends are hard to leave. Lime, give Frank my revolver and gun. Good bye. Ann, Lime and Frank.' He always called me Lime, my wife Ann, and our little son Frank. I am convinced that during a fit of despondency brought on by a long spree, during which he lost a considerable sum of money, he took poison with suicidal intent. Coroner Dawson was notified, and during the afternoon he, assisted by Dr. Weed, held a post mortem examination, which revealed the fact that he had died from an overdose of narcotic poison. His stomach was also diseased from the effects of liquor, and in his gall bladder was found a crystallized stone the shape and size of a large acorn. No inquest was deemed necessary, and the body will be buried today.
“I am convinced that during a fit of despondency brought on by a long spree... he took poison with suicidal intent.”
Boarding houses were the center of precarious living in the late 19th century, often functioning as both home and ruin for itinerant travelers. While the 'narcotic poison' and suicide are specific to this tragedy, the story of a new arrival struggling with isolation and the rapid loss of their savings in a strange city remains an agonizingly common theme in Seattle's housing narrative.
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