The Perpetual Motion Inventor's Wild Night
Dr. Hannibal Mills, a local crank obsessed with his 'perpetual motion' machine, shoots a saloon keeper after a drunken argument.
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.
Dr. Hannibal Mills, a crank inventor, last evening shot Ole Anderson, one of the proprietors of the Occidental saloon, in the basement of the Occidental block. The deed was evidently the drunken freak of a man not very well balanced even when he is sober. Mills has been in the habit of drinking at the Occidental saloon for some time and has always acted strangely on the subject of inventions. Last night he approached Anderson, pulled out a 38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, and flourished it. Anderson thought it was a joke until the fourth trigger pull sent a bullet through his shoulder. When apprehended, Mills wept, claiming it was an accident and he didn't know it was loaded. Mills claims he is in contact with God and has invented a perpetual motion machine that will make millions. He currently has a prototype being built at the Vulcan Iron Works.
“I firmly believe that the invention of perpetual motion has been granted to me alone and that I will make millions of dollars through it.”
The Occidental Block was a prominent fixture in Pioneer Square. The story captures the intersection of early Seattle's 'booster' culture—where every eccentric with a dream of wealth was given an audience—and the violence of the city's unregulated saloon life.
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