Northwest Gothic: Immoral and Unnatural Tales from the Federal Writers' Project [Paperback]

C. R. Schreck (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2003

Northwest Gothic captures the darker side of frontier times. These morbid tales of death, vice, and sex offer a unique perspective on 19th century Oregon and Washington state. Culled from the interviews of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writers Project, this collection skips the familiar cowboys and lumberjacks for an alternate historical portrait of addicts, murderers, and other settlers of ill repute.

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Frank E. Coulter

Federal Writers’ Project Research Worker Sara B. Wrenn interviewed Frank E. Coulter in his workshop at 421 S.W. Second Ave., Portland, Oregon on March 24, 1939.

Scotch and Irish, Coulter was born in Marion, Ohio, on April 16, 1862 and had lived in Oregon for the past 50 years. He had a wife, Ellen Louisa Kent Coulter; and two daughters, Mrs. Inez Boskill and Dorothy Coulter. He had attended public schools; then spent two-and-a-half years at denomination school in Woodridge, California, and one year at Stanford University. He was Minister at United Brethren Church and also a maker of stringed instruments.

Wrenn writes, "Second floor of old building, reached by dark, dusty flight of stairs. Room some 20 by 30 feet, with windows opening on court. Floor of old, worn and uneven boards, and a rusty stove in the center of the room. Piled everywhere, on the floor, on shelves and tables and benches, is the material — old and new wood of every description — from which the informant makes his instruments. Scores of instruments, completed and in the making, hang against one wall. His work table or bench stands beneath the dusty, cobwebby windows. A motor-run whipsaw is in the center of the room, neither the whipsaw itself nor the band being protected. In one obscure corner is a stationery washbowl with running water. Cans of glue and varnish, used and unused, as well as other incidental materials, is here, there and everywhere. What little floor space remains is filled with a nondescript assortment of chairs, doubtless for the use of the informant’s many visitors and cronies. One of Portland’s very old business blocks, the rest of the second floor being used by a printing establishment. Building is in the town’s oldest business section, close to Chinatown."

Wrenn describes Coulter as "tall and slender, with smooth kindly face" but wearing "shabby clothes." She wryly assessed his personality as "of the fanatic type." "Especially interested in political and economic questions dealing with humanitarianism," she noted, he is "interested in the welfare of mankind, but with considerable ego attached."

The Hunchback Violinist

There was a violin player here in Portland about 1912 that was a natural. He was an Italian hunchback, 19 years old and only about four feet tall. I used to listen to him. He didn’t have a decent violin — a three-quarter, no tone affair, and his arms were too twisted to handle it properly, so I modeled a violin for him, making it so that without shortening the scale he could make the reach. I brought him down to my shop and I said, "Guiseppe, here’s a violin for you." (His name was Guiseppe Amato.)

He took the fiddle without a word, only his big, wistful eyes shining, and he went to a corner of the shop; and there he played, without stopping, for more than an hour. He played out his very soul. He made that violin wail and laugh, while the tears ran down his cheeks. He just couldn’t believe it was for him. He had to go and get his father because he was afraid his father might think it was a game to make him pay money for the violin. I forgot to say the boy played on the street.

It was just three days later, and he was playing on Ben Selling’s corner — I think it was Fourth and Morrison — and Ben Selling came out to listen to the boy. I said to Ben, "Ben don’t you think it’s a shame such genius as that hasn’t a chance to develop."

Ben answered, "Well, what do you think?"

I said, "Well, if I was Ben Selling, and I had as much money as he’s got, I’d send that boy to Italy to study."

Ben laughed. But just one week later that boy was started on his way to Genoa. He studied hard, but he wasn’t very strong, and he only lived four years after that. The world lost a great musician in his death.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: 9099 Media (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974326100
• ISBN-13: 978-0974326108
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,978,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)