A Bloody Dispute Over Unpaid Wages
A Seattle saloon keeper is accused of pistol-whipping his former bartender after a heated argument over unpaid back wages.
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 warrant was issued last evening by Justice Von Tobel for the arrest of Dave S. Spencer, proprietor of the Windsor House saloon, upon a charge of assault and battery. The warrant was sworn out by Henry Gilcher, a former bartender of the saloon, who alleged that when he called on Spencer yesterday morning at 7 o'clock and demanded back pay due him, the saloon keeper knocked him down and struck him three times on the head with a revolver. Gilcher's head was seriously cut and his appearance gave evidence that he had been roughly handled.
“The saloon keeper knocked him down and struck him three times on the head with a revolver.”
This 1892 workplace violence case mirrors the ongoing challenges of wage theft and labor exploitation in the service industry today. The brutal resolution—a physical assault following a simple request for earned pay—highlights the high stakes for workers who lacked the legal protections and labor standard enforcement modern workers rely upon.
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