A Deadly Brawl on the Grant Street Bridge
A notorious local plumber is killed in a violent confrontation with a Tacoma bartender after a night of heavy drinking.
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.
Charles C. Defiel, a Washington Street plumber and a notorious character in the city, was killed yesterday morning about 8 o'clock in front of the Seattle electric light works on the Grant Street bridge by John H. Fay, a Tacoma bartender. The killing was the outcome of a drunken brawl that began in various dance halls and saloons downtown. After being repeatedly beaten by Defiel, Fay finally pulled a revolver and shot his assailant. Defiel, even with a bullet through his heart, snatched the gun from his slayer and staggered up the bridge before collapsing. Despite the intensity of the struggle and the public nature of the fight, witnesses reported no one intervened to stop the violence. Fay, who surrendered to authorities, claims the act was in self-defense, citing that he had been repeatedly kicked and beaten to the point of near-disfigurement.
“With a swift kick he planted his foot in the prostrate man's face, and the flesh from a point near the right eye far down over the cheek was cut open to the bone.”
The Grant Street bridge area was a gritty, industrial corridor in 1893, serving as a hub for the rough-and-tumble life of the waterfront. Today, the geography of the former bridge is absorbed into the industrial and stadium districts of SODO, which still grapples with the tension between its industrial history and the modern city's growth.
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