Portland Debacle

One milestone event in Barney Oldfield's life was his alleged suicide attempt in July 1907. The exact charges are unclear but it appears Oldfield was accused of some kind of fraud in making promises he could not keep. In the end he was exonerated but not before in what I believe was a fit of drunken rage climbed onto the ledge of a Portland, Oregon hotel room at least a few stories up and threatened to jump. Talked back into the room by his frantic wfe and the hotel detective Barney nursed a hand cut by broken window glass and most probably a throbbing headache the next morning.