A Frontier Ambush Near Snohomish
A railroad worker is lured into the woods under the pretense of a land deal and fights for his life against a highwayman.
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 daring attempt at murder for the purpose of robbery took place two miles east of Snohomish at 2:30 p.m. today. A highwayman shot a Norwegian named Charles Chilberg three times. Chilberg, a railroad hand on the Everett and Monte Cristo Railway, had recently been paid and carried nearly $300 in checks. A man dressed as a farmer approached him in town, offering to sell ten acres of land to cover overdue taxes. Chilberg agreed to accompany him to the property, but upon arriving in the woods, the stranger drew a revolver and fired. Chilberg was struck in the neck and arm but managed to tackle his assailant. In the struggle, Chilberg turned the gun on the robber, firing a shot before fleeing to town. A sheriff’s posse later tracked the robber’s blood trail into the woods, but he escaped.
“With blood flowing from two ugly wounds, Chilberg clutched the robber as he fired the third shot.”
This incident reflects the dangers faced by laborers carrying cash wages in the 1890s, a common occurrence before the prevalence of modern banking. The location, along the Pilchuck road near a historic sawmill site, highlights how the outskirts of Snohomish served as a frontier zone for crime and opportunistic land swindles.
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