TRAGEDIES SEEM TO be part of the human experience. Some seem instantaneous, like an automobile collision. Others seem long and drawn out, like war or a health problem.
In the human experience, issues can fester and grow until a breaking point is found. This type of tragedy occurred in Forks in 1935. But I’ll start this story elsewhere.
Walter Stewart Lindsey was born in Pike County, Ill., on March 5, 1872. In his 20s, he moved to Oregon. While in Oregon, Lindsey joined the Oregon National Guard.
World history took a turn when the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor in Cuba on Feb. 15, 1898.
At the time, Cuba was under Spanish rule. On April 21, 1898, Congress declared war on Spain. On April 25, 1898, President William McKinley asked Oregon for a regiment of infantry.
Oregon was considered to have one of the nation’s better equipped and trained National Guardsmen. Pvt. Walter Lindsey was called to go to war.
The 2nd Oregon Infantry participated in the surrender of Guam. Then they landed in the Philippines and entered Manila. They took part in the surrender of the Spanish army in Manila.
The 2nd Oregon Infantry regiment mustered out of service in August 1899. War is messy. We have no idea how this war may have affected Walter. We know a lot more about PTSD now.
Back then, it was only referred to as shell shock.
After the war, Walter spent time horse trading. During this time, Walter met Minnie Evelyn Thrasher. In 1901, they were married. On Aug. 1, 1902, their son, Frank William Lindsey, was born in Pendleton, Ore.
Much of Walter’s work career involved managing pool halls, which did not have good reputations. In 1935, Walter was a proprietor of the Forks Hotel, and he likely managed the pool hall.
The next player in this tragedy is Gertrude E. Hoag. I could not find much out about Gertrude’s history.
She was born in 1884 in Maine. Gertrude married later in life. Gertrude married Elmer D. Hoag in 1927. She was 43 and Elmer was 48.
Elmer held a variety of jobs over his life span. He was a sheep shearer, a machinist and a mechanic.
By 1930, Elmer was working for the State Highway Department. In the small town of Forks, the Hoags and the Lindseys were likely friends, at least for a while. It seems evident, though, that the friendship between Gertrude and Walter grew much closer.
By the mid-1930s, it was evident that Gertrude’s husband, Elmer, was not well. Elmer was under a doctor’s care and succumbed on April 9, 1935. At 3:25 p.m., Elmer died from endocarditis (infection of the heart’s inner lining). Bacteria could have entered his bloodstream through a cut on the job.
Elmer’s death put strange events into motion. By 11 p.m. on April 9 (within 7½ hours), Walter Lindsey was pounding on Gertrude Hoag’s door, demanding entrance.
Gertrude refused to open the door. Walter demanded she “open the door or I’ll kick it in and come in and get you.” We have to wonder why Walter could not wait until after Gertrude had buried her husband.
Gertrude responded, “If you try that, I’ll shoot you.” Walter responded, “Go ahead and shoot me. I want to get shot.” Then he started to kick in the door. Gertrude fired a 30-30 rifle through the door, hitting Walter in the stomach. Walter died at 1 a.m. on April 10, two hours after he started pounding on Gertrude’s door.
Within a matter of 9½ hours, two men died. Gertrude was arrested until things could be sorted out. A coroner’s inquest was immediately convened.
The jury heard “a steamy and sordid tale of tangled lives.” Minnie Lindsey testified that, “She [Gertrude] was not offended at my husband, but she [Gertrude] was offended at me [Minnie] when I would call her place and demand he [Walter] come home. And I don’t think she’ll deny she [Gertrude] went to Port Angeles with him [Walter] several times and stayed overnight.”
Minnie also referred to her husband as Bill Bailey saying, “Bill Bailey is her man.” This was a not-so-subtle reference to the 1902 song, “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home.”
It’s a song about a lady wanting her man, Bill Bailey, to come home even though she had driven him out of the home.
During the inquest, Gertrude Hoag admitted that they had taken trips to Port Angeles. She also admitted that Walter called her frequently. Gertrude also stated that Walter suggested a suicide pact between them. Gertrude recalled that, a week prior, Walter was drinking heavily and threatened her life with a pocketknife.
There was an earlier incident when Walter expressed jealousy toward Gertrude. Walter declared that, “If he couldn’t have her, he’d see no one else did.”
All of this led Gertrude to become fearful of her life. After these incidents, she installed a bolt on the door.
Gertrude testified that, “I certainly didn’t mean to kill him. I had in mind to hit his leg, but I neglected to allow for the fact that he was standing on the street level about 1 foot below the level of the floor.”
Gertrude’s accounts of the events were substantiated by three women who had just returned from Sappho. The women heard Walter Lindsey kicking the door and threatening Gertrude. They also heard Walter tell Gertrude, “Go ahead and shoot me. I want to get shot.” These women were the first to render aid after he was shot.
The jury’s verdict was, “We the jury summoned by the coroner of Clallam County, Washington, to investigate into the cause of the death of Walter S. Lindsey, do find that he was killed April 10, 1935, at Forks, Washington, by a gun held in the hand of Gertrude E. Hoag, and that said shooting, judged by the evidence, was entirely justified.”
After the verdict was read, Gertrude walked over to the prosecutor and asked for her rifle back. The prosecutor turned the rifle over to the sheriff for the time being.
In an ironic twist, both men were side-by-side in the same mortuary and then buried the same day in the same cemetery (Forks Cemetery).
Walter Stewart Lindsey received a veteran’s headstone inscribed with CO D (Company D), 2 Oregon (2nd Oregon Infantry regiment), Sp Am War (Spanish American War).
Minnie Lindsey later moved to Pendelton, Ore. She died on Nov. 23, 1969, at the age of 93.
I could not find anything regarding Gertrude Hoag’s life after this event.
This tragedy reminds us to be careful with our life choices.
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John McNutt is a descendant of Clallam County pioneers and treasurer of the North Olympic History Center Board of Directors. He can be reached at woodrowsilly@gmail.com.
John’s Clallam history column appears the first Saturday of every month.
