When it comes to December in Grays Harbor, it is cold, dark and wet. As depressing as it may seem now, here are some tales from the Aberdeen Herald depicting Decembers past and some of the difficult events that people dealt with in the early part of the last century.

FIRE DESTROYS HOME — Fire caused by an overheated stove caused the destruction of a two-story dwelling near the Electric Park Monday at midnight. An occupant had just finished shingling the house during the day and when he arrived home from town that evening built a fire in a small stove and went to bed. An hour later he was awakened to find the house in flames. He sent in an alarm, both Aberdeen and Hoquiam departments answering. Aberdeen and Hoquiam worked jointly in laying 1,000 feet of hose and by hard work saved an adjoining dwelling belonging to Ed Schwartz, which was slightly scorched. The owner of the destroyed building could not be learned. — Aberdeen Herald, Dec. 7, 1911

THE HERON STREET BRIDGE — In swinging the bridge last Saturday the wind proved too much for the men at the lever and swinging it with such force as to break the gearing. Navigation on the river was suspended for a few days. The gearing should be made heavier or something should be done with the wind. — Aberdeen Herald, Dec. 27, 1900

FIRE IN JEWELRY STORE — Fire was discovered about 1:30 yesterday afternoon in a room in the rear of the Mattson Jewelry store, on G Street (between Market and Wishkah Streets) opposite the post office and the alarm turned in. The store is located in a frame building and but for the speedy appearance of the fire department a fire of considerable magnitude would have followed. As it was, the blaze was extinguished with the use of very little water and consequent small loss to the stock and fixtures.

Mr. Mattson was in the store, and his three-year-old daughter was in the rear room where there was a fire in the stove, and it is thought she must have pulled a piece of burning wood from the stove and caused the fire. Mr. Mattson immediately tried to smother the blaze with a mattress from a bed in the room, and Mrs. Mattson rushed down from the rooms on the second floor and seized the child to save her from the fire, and went to the assistance of her husband in his efforts to quell the flames. Mr. & Mrs. Mattson were both slightly burned in their fight with the fire.

The building is owned by Grant and Frank C. Wheeler and is insured. The damage to the stock and fixtures is about $1,500 and was not insured. — Aberdeen Herald, Dec. 26, 1912

Even by today’s standards, this is a horribly brutal tale:

THROWN FROM TRAIN — Frank Brady is Probably Fatally Injured on Train Near Oakville Thursday Night – Oakville, Wash., Dec. 26 — Frank Brady, a cook, aged 23 years, was fatally injured while enroute on a Northern Pacific passenger train from Elma to Olympia Thursday night. His assailant, an Austrian, was not apprehended, and there is little likelihood the man will be arrested.

Brady was removed to Olympia, where the doctors hold out no hope for his recovery. Peritonitis had developed and there was little chance for the man.

The altercation occurred on the evening train out of the Harbor on Dec. 24. Brady took the train from Elma to Olympia. He went to the smoking car, where a party of eight or 10 Austrians were drinking. The young man left his seat to get a drink of water and during his absence one of the Austrians took his seat. Brady remonstrated and the Austrian grew indignant.

About four miles east of Oakville, while the train was running at a good rate of speed, Brady left the smoker and went to the platform. The Austrian followed him and renewed the trouble. Brady declares the Austrian drew a knife and stabbed him in the groin, and then pushed him from the train. He rolled down an embankment, sustaining very severe injuries. Apparently no one on the train except the assailant knew of Brady’s plight.

The trouble occurred about 6 o’clock Thursday night and was not until 3 o’clock yesterday (Sunday) afternoon that Brady was discovered. He was found by David Wheeless, an employee of the Elma Lumber Company, who was walking from Gate to Oakville.

When Brady was brought to Oakville he was conscious, but almost dead from exposure. In the fall from the train his hip had been broken, his foot smashed and the muscles of the abdomen torn and perforated. He evidently struck upon some blunt obstacle. His face was badly bruised. Dr. Van Winkle of Oakville temporarily dressed Brady’s wounds and he was removed to Olympia. — Aberdeen Herald, Dec. 28, 1908

AUTOMOBILE WRECKED — Frank Everman, the well-known automobile driver, and Homer Kautz, a boy, were severely bruised and scratched and narrowly escaped death Tuesday afternoon when the auto they were in was crushed into splinters by the east bound passenger train at the Division Street railroad crossing.

The machine, a Winton Six, costing $3,500, had just been purchased and paid for by Robert Waldron of Cohassett Beach, and he had Mr. Everman take it out for a trial trip. It was growing dusk when he started across the tracks. The train was backing up from Hoquiam, and crashed into the machine, throwing Everman and the boy out. Everman was cut on the face and severely bruised, while the boy escaped with some scratches. The car was totally demolished, and the agent wired Seattle at once for a duplicate. — Aberdeen Herald, Dec. 31, 1908

December 1909 was a particularly stormy one with menacing flood waters leading to this nightmarish situation:

BOY ATTACKED BY RATS — Montesano, Dec. 4 — During the recent high water Robert McGee, the young son of Thomas McGee, had an experience that he will not soon forget. His parents being forced to move from their home by the water, he said he would stay in the house, sleeping upstairs, to see that everything was all right. During the night the room in which he was was invaded by an army of rats seeking a dry place and if he had not let his dog stay in the room it is probable that the rats would have killed him. As it was they had quite a battle with the rodents, and succeeded in killing quite a number and in driving them from the room. – Aberdeen Herald, Dec. 6, 1909

Roy Vataja is the son of Finnish immigrants and is quite sure that if an “army of rats” invaded his humble abode in the dead of night, his cats would be no help at all.