The Tragedy at the New Mill
A violent, drunken confrontation between two laborers at a Seattle-area sawmill ends in a shocking murder-suicide.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A serious bootleg affray occurred near here at noon yesterday at the new mill owned by C. E. Bixby. An employee, who had been drinking, suddenly missing a ride, fired two shots at a fellow workman, killing him instantly. He then fired three bullets into his own head and fell dead beside his victim. The trouble was caused by about a quart of liquor.
“The trouble was caused by about a quart of liquor.”
This 1887 report of a lethal, alcohol-fueled workplace conflict underscores the raw, often lawless nature of early industrial labor in the Puget Sound region. Today's Seattle, while far removed from the frontier 'bootleg' atmosphere of the 1880s, still grapples with the intersection of rapid development, labor safety, and the social fallout of substance abuse within our modern economic landscape.
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