The Loomis Independence Day Killing
A confrontation between a miner and a member of Chief Moses' band leads to a fatal shooting during Fourth of July celebrations.
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 special dispatch from Loomis, Okanogan county, reports the killing of Coya Kiah, an Indian of Chief Moses' band, by a miner named Dan Whipple. A large number of Indians were in town celebrating the Fourth, drinking and fighting. Coya Kiah was knocked down by Whipple, and he vowed vengeance. At 2 o'clock the next morning, he tracked Whipple with a knife. Whipple ordered him to stop, but the Indian continued to advance. Whipple then drew his revolver and fired, killing him instantly. Fears of a general uprising followed, but the community eventually calmed, and the Indians buried their dead brother.
“There were fears for awhile that there would be a general uprising of the Indians, but they finally calmed down and buried their dead brother.”
This incident highlights the volatile intersection of frontier justice and local tensions between settlers and Indigenous bands during the early 1890s. Today, the Okanogan region remains a site where the complex history of tribal sovereignty and land usage continues to be negotiated.
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