Rancher Joseph Amerd Fatally Shot at Marble Mound, 1892
A long-standing feud between a rancher and a laborer culminates in a violent end on New Year's Day near the confluence of the Skagit and Cascade rivers.
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.
Mr. A. V. Preseatine, who lives near Marble Mound, in Skagit county, arrived in Seattle yesterday morning bringing news of a desperate fight ending in a tragedy at Marble Mound on New Year's Day. Joseph Amerd, a rancher, was shot by Frank Barnes, a laborer, three times—once through the heart, once just above the nipple of the left breast, and once through the right side at the base of the floating ribs. After the shooting was done, Barnes surrendered to the authorities.
On New Year's day, Frank Barnes, Henry Colby and D. E. Taylor were working in the woods on the outskirts of Marble Mound, at the junction of the Cascade and Skagit rivers. While they were working, Joseph Amerd approached. He walked up to Barnes and said, 'Barnes, I want you to leave the country at once.' 'I am not ready to go now,' replied Barnes. This seemed to enrage Amerd. He noticed an ax nearby, picked it up, and went at Barnes, who turned and ran, hotly pursued by Amerd. The chase continued for sixty yards, when Barnes came to a tree against which leaned a 44-caliber Winchester rifle. He grabbed the gun and fired. Amerd staggered but kept coming. Barnes fired again. Amerd, though bleeding, grabbed the gun by the barrel and twisted it from Barnes’ hands. As Amerd approached him like a wild beast, Barnes drew a 45-caliber Colt's revolver and shot Amerd through the heart, killing him instantly.
Joseph Amerd had settled on unsurveyed government lands about a year and a half ago. Reports indicate he was known as a quarrelsome character. It was an old quarrel that prompted him to make the desperate assault that cost him his life. Amerd leaves a wife and child on his ranch.
“Although bleeding from two deep wounds, Amerd came at Barnes like a wild beast.”
The late 19th-century Skagit Valley was a frontier landscape where property boundaries and social disputes were often settled by personal force rather than legal arbitration. While modern Skagit County is known for its agricultural and conservation focus, the tension between competing land-use interests remains a lingering echo of this era's rugged, often violent, individualism.
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