Credited as the first full-service mortuary in Seattle, Washington, E.R. Butterworth & Sons took advantage of epidemics and the recovered bodies of murdered gold miners to flourish. But a state besieged by death, may not have been enough for Butterworth, who it is alleged, bolstered his earnings through hearse racing and an association with a serial killer.
Disease leads Butterworth from furniture to coffin maker
Founded in 1875 by George and Mary Jane Washington, Centerville, WA, had developed into a sizable community, boasting around 3,000 people by 1890. In 1882, Centerville – renamed Centralia in 1883, welcomed Edgar Ray Butterworth (1847 –1921) into the fold as one of its own. The furniture maker, originally from Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts, opened up a small store and achieved notable political success as City Mayor and two-term state legislator.
In the late 1800s, a black diphtheria epidemic raged across Washington's Trinity County ravaging the citizens of Centralia. Anointed the "black killer," this rabid throat infection lead to an agonizingly slow death through suffocation. As black fibrous coverings blocked victims airways, the disease favored many, spreading easily through the respiratory system and from person to person. With a near 100% fatality rate, Butterworth capitalized on the death of his neighbors by adding a new item to his existing inventory, coffins.
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