The Desperate Struggle at the Steilacoom Asylum
A man awaiting commitment to the insane asylum attempts to take his own life in the halls of the institution.
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.
Deputy Sheriff Kelly, who returned from Steilacoom last evening, where he went for the purpose of placing the insane man, James Hall, in the asylum, states that soon after arriving at that institution, and while waiting for a receipt from Dr. Waughop, Hall stepped into a room nearby and closed the door. Kelly suspected that all was not right, and forced the door open as soon as he could, only to find the insane man, razor in hand, whacking away at his throat. Fortunately, the razor, which had been secreted in Hall's bootleg, was dull, and the injury inflicted on himself was but slight. Another minute without detection would have been sufficient to end his life.
“Kelly suspected that all was not right, and forced the door open as soon as he could, only to find the insane man, razor in hand, whacking away at his throat.”
The Steilacoom facility, historically known as the Western State Hospital, has long been a flashpoint in Washington's struggle to balance incarceration and mental health care. Today, the debate over how we treat—and where we hold—those in crisis continues to echo the lack of resources and oversight reflected in this 1885 dispatch.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.