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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

100 years ago in Liberty Lake: A former Spokane County sheriff dies in apparent suicide

From our archives, 100 years ago

F.M. Pugh, twice the Spokane County sheriff and an important political figure, died of a gunshot wound in a tent outside his Liberty Lake home.

The “conditions indicate suicide,” noted the paper. He had returned to his home from Spokane a short while earlier and “appeared to be dozing” when his wife came in with a grandchild in her arms. They exchanged a few words, and she left to put the child to bed. Shortly afterward, a shot rang out and they found Pugh lying next to the bed with a fatal gunshot wound.

The family said that Pugh had recently been distressed about financial affairs.

He had served as Spokane County sheriff from 1890 to 1895. He worked as a deputy for many years, and was again elected sheriff in 1908. However, he was defeated for re-election in 1910, and took various other jobs as a peace officer, including a stint as a deputy in Liberty Lake. He was 55 years old.

The coroner “declined to repeat the words that passed between husband and wife” just before the shooting, on her request. The coroner would only say that those words were “solely of a personal nature,” and that they “would not have influenced the act and had no bearing on the case.”