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Old newspapers, pinned to the places they wrote about — the streets you can still walk today.
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A masked party of fifty men broke into the courthouse to extract and hang a convicted assailant and a murder defendant, while a jury slept just feet away.
“The mob bound them hand and foot, dragged them from the jail to the second floor landing of the courthouse... adjusted a noose about each victim's neck, and hurled them out to dangle and die.”
After Hill and Parker were lynched in Colfax, Attorney General W. C. Jones ruled that the county need not pay for a coroner's inquest—and said the real hunt for the mob belonged to a grand jury.
“Everybody knew that these men were hung by a mob and a case was presented for an investigation, not by a coroner's jury, but either by a grand jury or the prosecuting attorney.”
Decades after a violent public lynching left a permanent stain on the community, the citizens of Colfax still wake to find ominous reminders scrawled on the sidewalk.
“Whitman county has never witnessed a legal execution of a murderer... In 1887 Colfax witnessed a lynching, when the county jail was attacked by a mob.”
A Chinese cook's kerosene mishap destroys the heart of a small Washington town, exposing the dangers of inadequate civic infrastructure.
“The flames would have been confined to a small area but for the fact that no water could be had, as the reservoir is not complete and the pumps at the pumping station are out of order.”
Whitman County Judge William McDonald issues a blistering order to the prosecutor, detailing long-standing allegations of jailhouse abuse, probate perjury, and illegal spending by commissioners.
“I reluctantly direct the clerk to make an entry in the minutes of this court... that it is the duty of the court and the prosecuting attorney... to see that all persons that hold public offices should obey the law.”
A chronological review of Whitman County's most dramatic events, from fatal run-ins and vigilante justice to the transformation of the landscape by new rail and sewer lines.
“If silence is ever golden, it must be beside the graves of men whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem, the music of which can never be sung.”
A Shawnee Warehouse agent disappears with the wheat of local farmers, triggering a frantic manhunt from Colfax to Seattle.
“I realize that I am in a bad box, but I never got a cent out of it. Some one else got the wheat.”
A tired freight brakeman, exhausted by days of overwork, pays the ultimate price after falling asleep on the job.
“The unfortunate young man had, so it is said, been kept about 72 hours on the road, with but little sleep.”
A defendant accuses a Whitman County judge of coercion, bribery, and witness tampering in a desperate bid to clear his name.
“Judge, don't try to force the boy to testify to a lie.”
A Chinese gambler is murdered in a Colfax alley, leading to a swift, multi-town pursuit and the capture of a suspect near the Snake River.
“The deputy, knowing the unreliability of Mongolians where trouble has arisen among them, would not have been fooled for the time being, but two white girls working in a fruit packing house—to whom probably all Chinamen look alike—added their testimony that the man had certainly worked with them for several days.”
A newly minted newspaper editor-sheriff argues that local complicity, not just law enforcement failures, fuels vigilante violence in Washington.
“It is all well enough for people who never looked down into the muzzle of a six-shooter to say what they would have done had they been in the guard’s place.”
In a bizarre twist of justice and timing, D. Franklin Squibb married his new bride just weeks after his divorce was finalized—only to find himself serving hard labor for contempt of court.
A brutal feud between laborers in a remote Eastern Washington opium joint ends in a horrific shooting and a manhunt.
“The entire lower portion of his jaw had been shot away, and blood was spurting from his mouth and the gaping wound.”
An editorial reflection on the recent lynching of Bill at Colfax, arguing that a community’s failure to maintain a just legal system does not justify vigilante violence.
“To murder a helpless prisoner who is in the hands of the legal and judicial machinery of our own deliberate devisement is an act of mimic barbarism and boyish folly.”
A critique of Washington newspapers that refused to take a hard moral stand against lynch law.
“What kind of civilization is this that confesses that free government has fallen down flat; that we have relapsed into barbarism, since we trample our laws under foot and call a 'mob' in some corner of the state 'the people.'”
A governor's push to prosecute the Colfax vigilantes draws a shocking defense from Whitman County newspapers—and a sharp rebuke from The Olympian.
“Mr. McGraw should remember that mob has rendered more to society than he can ever expect to.”
A Colfax woman successfully defends her sanity after her husband attempts to have her committed to an asylum.
“The wife declares this is the culmination of a persistent effort by her husband to get rid of her.”
Clara Sellers, 13, recants her incest charge, freeing A. Sellers after seven months—but not before he sold his farm to pay for his defense.
“She has told Prosecuting Attorney Hanna that her testimony was false, that her father is innocent and that she had concocted the story in revenge because he had whipped her severely.”
A former prosecutor and a sitting judge trade public accusations of deceit, perjury, and misconduct involving a prisoner and a local jail scandal.
“I believed then, as I believe now, that the whole thing was part of a scheme to blacken Nessly's character—other schemes having failed.”
A destitute family in Colfax is dismantled by the courts after years of poverty, illness, and local infamy.
“There was not a sign of furniture about, and everything betokened poverty and filth.”
Governor McGraw orders an investigation into the extrajudicial murder of two men in Whitman County, declaring that mob violence is no substitute for the courts.
“No mob has any business to revise the judgment of a court or the verdict of a jury by violating the laws of the state.”
Settlers in the Palouse country are forced to burn their fences for warmth as sub-zero temperatures threaten both livestock and families.
“In several cases he knew of the settlers tearing down their fences and burning them for stove wood.”
After losing his land and descending into a alcoholic crisis, a former farmer experiences a terrifying delusion and is rescued from the river.
“Under the delusion that the members of the Red Men lodge wanted his life and were hemming him in, swam the Palouse river.”
A notorious local thief rigged an ingenious 'Spanish windlass' to dismantle his cell window and vanished into the night—completely naked.
“He played exactly the same trick that William Herbert did when he made his famous escape... all of the escape's clothes were left lying on the floor.”
An open letter from the embattled president reveals the infighting and student discontent that led to the institution's crisis.
“They looked upon the college as a sinking ship. They assured me of their conviction that I could float it if anybody could.”
While awaiting trial for the embezzlement of grain, a local warehouse manager leads a daring escape from the county jail, resulting in a foot chase and a sheriff's pursuit.
“The first bullet kicked up the dirt between Clifford's feet and he went into the air like an antelope.”
A grisly discovery of blood-stained shirts and Spanish documents suggests a cold case murder.
“There is no doubt that a murder has been committed and evidences of the crime thrown into the river, which at last gave up its secret.”
Two workers were buried when a city well caved in, leaving one man critically injured.
“Hughes was entirely buried, but the rescuers uncovered his head in time to prevent suffocation.”
When a railway company abandoned its discharged laborers without transport in Colfax, the men staged a peaceful occupation of a train to demand passage home.
“The men held a meeting in City Hall, which had been furnished to them gratuitously as a lodging apartment, and decided to take the train when it came on Monday night.”
Protesting settlers in Eastern Washington demand Congress seize 'unearned' lands from a 'soulless corporation' accused of land-grabbing and labor exploitation.
“We deeply deplore the fact that we are under the despotic power of a soulless corporation, and our only hope of protection is from the halls of legislation.”
A prominent Whitman County physician faces manslaughter charges following the death of a young schoolteacher, unraveling a web of alleged malpractice and local secrets.
“Just before her death she is said to have made a statement in which she charged a local dentist with being the cause of her trouble.”
A young farmer in Colfax dies by suicide in front of his fiancée following a series of personal disputes.
“A man had as well be in hell with his back broke as in the Palouse country and in debt.”
A local editor alleges that a Whitman County judge engaged in witness tampering, perjury, and attempted kidnapping to secure testimony in a personal vendetta.
“The sheriff's office is too slow for me, and I would as soon trust a pig with a hymn book as the sheriff with a warrant.”
A local man risks his own health to save a drowning boy near the Pacific Coast elevator.
“The boy was found with his feet hooked over a small log and his head beneath the water, in such a position that drowning was inevitable.”
A thousand spectators crowded the streets and hillsides to witness the final penalty for a murder in Whitman County.
“The hillside to the east was black with people, who could look down upon the scene and get a good view of the execution.”
A thousand spectators gathered at the Whitman County courthouse to witness the execution of a man who claimed innocence to his final breath.
“I proclaim before you and before my God that I am innocent of willful murder.”
A prisoner in Colfax, suspected of being a relative of the James brothers, opens fire on the police chief while being locked in a cell.
“The ball just escaped the marshal's head and tore up the boarding of the corridor.”
A condemned murderer facing execution in Colfax reveals his harrowing, accidental survival of a previous lynching by an angry mob.
“What ails me is that I don't want to die, and I don't think I ought to. Why, when they hanged me first down there by the railroad track, I scared half to death.”
A creditor, failing to collect a debt from a church congregation in Pullman, seized the rival building in Colfax, triggering a local legal battle.
“The Colfax brethren accused their Pullman fellows of putting up a job to damage the reputation and check the prosperity of the local denomination.”
After years of local sympathy, a 73-year-old pioneer skips town and abandons the friends who staked their reputation on his bond.
“Carter took pity on the old man and took him home to stay, instead of permitting him to be locked up in jail... It looks now as if they will have to pay dearly for their efforts.”
A charming con artist charmed her way into the best homes of Colfax, only to be undone by a stolen set of hotel silver.
“A kind hearted Colfax woman took the widow to her house to stay until she could get funds to go to Walla Walla, where she said she had friends.”
A judge declares the Whitman County jail a public health nightmare, forcing the sheriff to find humane quarters for the detained.
“Our advanced state of civilization demands that the health of all those who are confined in prisons shall be protected and cared for.”
Whitman County physicians and attorneys clash in a heated debate over the value of medical testimony in insanity and criminal cases.
“Judge E. K. Hanna, from the lawyer's standpoint, opposed the allowance of expert fees to physicians. He said every man owed certain duties to the state.”
Local youths targeted a Chinese laundryman with a bone-filled snowball in a targeted act of harassment.
“When he put down his bundle to protect himself one of them hit him in the mouth with a heavy piece of bone, badly injuring him.”
Students walk out in unison, forcing the closure of the local college after faculty departures and administration disputes.
“We will not remain with President Schlauch.”
A legal dispute over the embezzlement of wheat highlights the fragile trust of the Palouse agricultural economy.
“It is not necessary, however, that all the specifications of the charge, as laid in this information, should be proved precisely as made therein.”
A political scandal unfolds as a former auditor tries to justify cashing a $120 county warrant he was previously ordered to destroy.
“The trouble with Tobin's soap dish is that it will not hold soup. He is entirely reckless with the facts.”
A young boy narrowly escapes death after being trapped in an outhouse by older students.
“The little boy was almost dead when discovered and has many cruel marks upon his arms and body.”
An unknown assailant chokes a woman in her bed, but flees after she calls for help.
“It is evident that had she not loosened herself from the grasp upon her throat the villain would have murdered her.”
Colfax physicians go on strike against the county commissioners over pay for mandatory insanity examinations.
“Unless the matter of fees can be adjusted and the doctors put to work, no one can be committed to the asylum.”
A Colfax banker, caught in a web of financial irregularities, attempts to end his life as investigators uncover his missing funds.
“Russell says he took poison last night, and begs that he be allowed to die.”
Caught sawing their way out of the Colfax jail, three depot burglars were hauled to the penitentiary — one of them vowing to return for Sheriff Canut and his deputy before he would consent to hang.
“He declared that to kill these two will be the aim of his life, and that when he accomplishes that result he will be willing to be hanged.”
A pioneer settler is found dead in his home after a brutal struggle, sparking a local manhunt near Colfax.
“His coat and vest were torn almost to tatters, showing that he struggled for his life.”
Fifty-six farmers south of Colfax protested Hoke Smith’s appointment as interior secretary, saying the Northern Pacific was taking title to land they had settled and cultivated.
“As American citizens, with homes at stake and our country’s welfare at heart, we respectfully but earnestly protest the appointment of said Hoke Smith.”
A small-town banker has absconded, leaving his depositors with a massive, unexplained hole in the books.
“Charles F. Russell, cashier, is $11,000 short in his accounts and has fled.”
Whitman County farmers form a permanent association to challenge the railroad's right to sell land without clear title.
“The company had no right to sell lands to which they could not give a clear title.”
Whitman County farmers mobilize to challenge the Northern Pacific Railroad's land grant policies and freight rate gouging.
“A railroad company had but one policy and that was, to extract every dollar that was possible... and then to get legislation to exempt them from taxation.”
Spring Flat settlers resolve to stop buying Northern Pacific Railroad lands at 'exorbitant' prices, challenging the company's title to the public domain.
“Nearly all legislation for the last few years has been in the interest of the few against the many.”
The lonely death of a local farmer reveals the harrowing struggle against the ravages of alcoholism.
“He was not a common drunkard, but an invalid with physical infirmities which entirely deprived him of will power and self-control.”
Whitman County commissioners vote to abolish the work gang, sparking a rift with the sheriff and frustrated local farmers.
“The Whitman county chaingang, which had begun to prove a terror to evil doers and professional hoboes, is a thing of history.”
A respected leader in Colfax social and church circles takes her own life during a period of mental decline.
“She was an estimable woman and a leader in church and social circles. Her tragic death was a shock to this community.”
A state professor warns farmers against sophisticated livestock contracts that promise riches but leave them holding the bag.
“Warning Washington farmers against buying 'a pig in a poke,' and against signing any contract without submitting it to someone who understands contracts.”
A woman fights off a home invader who broke into her bedroom in the dead of night, narrowly escaping a violent assault.
“He in an instant understood that something was wrong, grabbed the gun and ran downstairs.”
A town roughneck learns the limits of his reach after an unprovoked assault on a farmer in downtown Colfax.
“Ellis has often beaten unoffending and helpless men within the last year, but has never before been arrested.”
City council members push for an expensive shift from unreliable pumps to an artesian gravity system to secure the town's health.
“The cost of pumping, $2,400 a year at least, which is now found so burdensome, and which will come with the regularity of house rent so long as the present system is maintained, would be decreased at least half.”
A former Whitman County official cashed a cancelled warrant for his own campaign expenses years after he left office.
“My act in regard to the warrant was not accidental. No, sir! It was deliberate, and what is more, it was right.”
After a massive embezzlement scheme depleted thousands of bushels, a local warehouse company is forced into liquidation.
“The big steal of 17,400 bushels of grain was disclosed. It is now a costly wreck to the holders of stock.”
A representative from Boston attempts to organize local millers into a regional trust to control prices for the Oriental market.
“Millers generally now think it is all a 'fake,' but the organizer promised to let us know definitely by July first.”
A citizen writes to the editor to defend a newly married couple from a violent, unwanted 'charivari' performance.
“The 'serenade' which was spoken of in regard to a young married couple, was not such as should be practiced by a sensible and civilized lot of people.”
A Whitman County sheriff’s liquor seizure tests the limits of state law, pitting authorities against the express company in a legal standoff.
“The constitutionality of this provision of the law is the question sought to be decided by the company.”
When a stranger confronted Mrs. A. Coolidge in the night, she bypassed the directory to summon help via telephone.
“Instead of complying, Mrs. Coolidge ran to the telephone and called Dr. John Benson, who lived three blocks distant.”
A bank bookkeeper’s frantic, armed response to an 'imaginary burglar' leaves a piano shredded and a cat terrified in Colfax.
“Let go of me or I'll shoot a hole through you.”
A confidence man posing as a land agent scams thirty-five laborers out of their hard-earned wages.
“A good many country men and laborers about Colfax have been victimized the past few days by a land cruiser.”
W. H. Harvey and his wife, E. M. Harvey, of Pullman, pass their oral examinations in Colfax, making Mrs. Harvey the first woman admitted to practice law in Whitman County.
“Mrs. Harvey is the first lady to be admitted to the bar, as she is the first to make application in Whitman county.”
A rancher's squirrel-extermination device explodes, nearly ending his life.
“A blow of such force three inches higher would certainly have been fatal.”
A 59-year-old bachelor leaves his farm near Pendleton to gamble on the Klondike, heading out from Colfax with a massive pack train.
“As the train left Colfax this morning with Mr. Cole at the head it formed a pretty picture and reminded the old settlers of the early days.”
Colfax officials accuse the state government of fraud and collusion in the selection of the site for the new Agricultural College.
“It has been openly charged, through the press, and it is generally believed, that the location of the agricultural college was made through fraud and corruption.”
A state land official reports that valuable school lands were leased for 'trifling sums' through a secret arrangement involving county commissioners, a Colfax lawyer and a banker—but stops short of naming names.
“large areas of the most valuable school land in Whitman County were leased for trifling sums to those whom they might designate”
A bungled telegram message causes a small-town grain buyer to accidentally trigger a massive payout to local farmers.
“The wheat moved toward him like a charm, as it were. He bought right and left, and in a short time had 60,000 bushels on his hands.”
Unemployed men camping outside Colfax have turned to raiding gardens and chicken coops to survive.
“They subsist by making nightly raids upon surrounding gardens and chicken yards.”
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