Brawls Erupt Outside a Pioneer Square Billiard Hall
A night of violence in Seattle’s waterfront district leads to a messenger boy and a laborer fighting on the sidewalk.
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.
The series of assaults which occurred Saturday night wound up at 2:45 o'clock yesterday morning on the sidewalk in front of Shaw & Banker's billiard hall at the corner of South Third and Washington streets, with a passage at arms between Harry Gleason, a messenger boy, known as 'Doe,' and a Great Northern laborer named James Cavanaugh. As near as can be learned, the row started in the billiard hall, where, it is said, Cavanaugh hit Gleason a punch in the face. A fight started and the struggle was transferred to the sidewalk, where the messenger boy drew a revolver and whacked Cavanaugh on the right side of the head, knocking him down and rendering him insensible. Officer Powers arrived on the scene in time to capture both and send them to police headquarters. Cavanaugh declared that he never hit Gleason and that the assault was unprovoked. According to his story he was unconscious about five hours.
“Nels Nelson, who was hit on the head with a billiard cue in Shaw Banker's billiard hail Saturday night, is still in the city jail, being held as a witness. He said yesterday that his head felt as big as a barrel.”
The intersection of 3rd and Washington, at the edge of Pioneer Square, remains a high-traffic area. While billiard halls have largely been replaced by modern storefronts, the street-level friction and late-night police presence echo the neighborhood’s historic reputation for rowdiness.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.