The Brutal Assault at Martin Creek
Two railroad laborers are brutally beaten and robbed at a camp near Martin Creek, leading to the swift arrest of their assailants.
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.
Frank Nixon and Charles Quinn were brought to the county jail yesterday by Deputy Sheriffs James Smart and Robert Miller to answer charges of robbery and assault on two laborers at Martin Creek, on the Great Northern railroad. According to one of the men, Hris Peterson, he and Samuel Sampson were walking along the road at the lower end of Martin Creek about 10 o'clock on Saturday night when they were suddenly attacked by two men armed with clubs. Being taken by surprise, they could not offer an effective resistance and were severely beaten. Peterson says that Quinn robbed him of $2. The defenseless men made an outcry which attracted rescuers from the camp, and the assailants were captured. Peterson, with his head bandaged, yesterday swore out a warrant against Quinn for robbery, and Sampson, being too badly injured to come to the city, Patrick Welsh, who saw part of the affair, preferred a charge of assault with intent to commit robbery against Nixon. Both prisoners will have a hearing before Justice You Tobel at 10 o'clock this morning.
“Peterson, with his head bandaged, yesterday swore out a warrant against Quinn for robbery.”
The construction of the Great Northern Railroad was a massive, often violent, undertaking that reshaped the Pacific Northwest. Today, the area near Martin Creek remains a rugged landscape, a testament to the immense human and physical labor that connected Seattle to the rest of the country.
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