Lee Olmstead

Lee Olmstead ran a pool hall in Bridgewater and was held in the city jail there when a fire broke out in the early morning hours of the summer of 1906. Night Watchman George Miller pulled him from the building unconscious from the heat and smoke, and he died shortly after being taken out of the jail. Before he died, he said he had set the fire himself by piling bedquilts in the corner of his cell, hoping to burn a hole through which he could escape. His body was to be sent to his mother in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Cause of death, as reported: Cause not yet determined

Sources (2)

• Reporter And Farmer, August 2, 1906, page 1 Reporter And Farmer, August 2, 1906
• The Brookings Register, August 16, 1906, page 3 The Brookings Register, August 16, 1906