A Deadly Night in Gilman
A senseless argument at a mining town boarding house turns into a homicide.
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.
Nicholas Strassner, who was shot by John Brackle at Gilman about 2:30 o'clock on Wednesday morning, died at 5 o'clock last evening after great suffering. Prosecutor Miller learned that Strassner and two other men were fighting with John Gibson in front of the Davis house, all being under the influence of liquor, when Brackle, who was drunk, came up to them and, though he had nothing to do with the fight, fired a shot at Strassner. The bullet entered at the right armpit, passed through the body, and dropped into the coat. The strange part about the wound is that the bullet did not strike the heart, though its course was right in line with it. Strassner did not even know he was shot until seven hours after the event. Strassner leaves a wife and three children; he was the leader of the local brass band and a member of the Royal Order of Odd Fellows.
“Brackle, who was drunk, came up to them and, though he had nothing to do with the fight, fired a shot at Strassner.”
The town of Gilman was later renamed Issaquah. It is a grim reminder that violence in our region often had roots in the isolated, alcohol-heavy social life of the 19th-century mining camps.
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