Tragedy at Port Ludlow: A Young Life Lost to a Hunting Accident
A 16-year-old boy dies following a tragic accident involving a firearm while walking near a logging site, highlighting the dangers inherent in the Pacific Northwest frontier.
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.
Port Townsend, Jan. 19—James Hall, the 16-year-old son of Capt. Hall, formerly of the barkentine Sagitt, while out hunting near Port Ludlow yesterday, had his shotgun accidentally discharged while drawing it over a log. The charge took effect in his left forearm. He was brought here for treatment, but lockjaw set in while on the way. Amputation, which was found necessary, proved too great a shock, and he died at the Central Hotel this morning.
“Amputation, which was found necessary, proved too great a shock, and he died at the Central Hotel this morning.”
In 1886, a hunting trip gone wrong near the timber camps of Port Ludlow was a somber local reality of rural life. Today, while hunting remains a common activity, the immediate availability of modern medical intervention and trauma care has drastically changed the survivability of such accidents, though the inherent dangers of firearm safety in the wild remain a point of modern civic concern.
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