Last month, after extensive research for my article about Olympia parks, I wrote, “No one knows anything about the life of Harry Fain.” I initially meant this literally, since I was coming up with nothing. No one at the Parks Department and no one in the neighborhood had anything on Harry or why the park was named for him. But it turned out there was another kind of truth in my comment: Fain was a master of secrecy.
This story was made possible by a comment posted by a reader.
Sandig: “Harry Fain was my Aunt Eve Cole's father. The park is part of the original land he (or his parents) owned going back to the 1920s or before. There is a book/memoir in the State Library written by Aunt Eva which tells some of his story. The park land was donated to the City of Olympia by Aunt Eva.”
I found the book. It was only available for reading under supervision. The story is incredible. Harry Fain lived multiple fascinating secret lives: some involve children born out of wedlock, some went with Harry to the grave—which is where I have presently set up shop.
[the author working at the gravesite of Harry Fain, Masonic Cemetary in Tumwater]
It was the evening on February 18, 1937. Had Harry Fain come home just a little bit later, he might have lived. But his pregnant mistress and his wife Mabel had only been sitting in the living room for a short while. The shock of his infidelity was fresh when he walked in.
A year before, 25-year-old Charlotte Oxnard met the strikingly handsome 41-year-old Harry Fain in a basket. The basket was strung on a wire going across the Skykomish. The wicker hamper was only big enough for two. In those days, this was an accepted way to cross rivers. While Harry operated the crank-pulley device, Charlotte operated another. By the time they reached the far side, they were far more than friends.
On the night of the shooting, something was in the air. Harry’s 11-year-old daughter Eva could feel the tension. She tackled her dumbfounded father, still standing in the doorway. This initially rescued him.
Eva was a perceptive kid. She also loved her father dearly. She was his favorite. The two frequently went to wrestling matches at the old Legion Hall on Water Street where cauliflower-eared men battled on a canvas mat.
That night was the last time Eva saw her father alive. Shortly after falling asleep, Eva woke up to the sounds of gunfire. Harry died immediately. The Fain kids were sent to their grandparents, and Mom was sent to jail. It would be weeks before anyone found out what happened.
In the trial, Harry’s own family testified against him. It came out that he had countless women all over the state. Some of them Mabel Fain knew about. Charlotte was one she didn’t, and her presence pushed Mabel over the edge. It didn’t calm Mabel when Charlotte demanded that Harry divorce her. And Charlotte didn’t stop there, she doubled down. She promised to raise Mabel’s four kids as her own. This gave Mabel the opposite feeling Charlotte was going for. Mabel went for the revolver. It’s a miracle she only shot her husband.
Charlotte was eight months pregnant. Was it even Harry’s kid? Did Harry switch his allegiance to Mabel? Was it Charlotte who fired the gun? How many other kids did Harry have? We’ll never know. The answers were buried with Harry.
[The crude grave marker of Harry Fain at Masonic Cemetery in Tumwater]
By the middle of the following month, after a lot of local press coverage, Mabel Fain was acquitted on temporary insanity. She returned to her kids at the house on the land that is currently the Olympia park where it all started.
Around town, everyone knew, but no one talked about it in front of the family. No one talked about it at home. They pretended like nothing happened. Young Eva felt ashamed and struggled to admit her last name in school.
The park was named after Harry to make it seem like he had more of a positive legacy. They wanted to shift the focus to his time in the Navy operating one of America’s first 72 submarines during WWI.
Charlotte died of pneumonia a few years after Harry. Their son became an accordion player. Beyond this, Eva Fain's oral history transcription offers another hundred pages of family trivia. The title of this article is taken from a line Eva used to describe the night her father was murdered.
I think the jury did the right thing. What was the value in sending Mabel to prison? Harry didn’t deserve death, but what can you do when a pretty young mistress tells you that she wants to steal your cheating husband and your four kids?
Harry, your park is good. I think it’s good enough to make up for your mistakes. Rest in peace.
Great story from the Wild West of Olympia, WA.