Saloon Owner Attacks Longshoreman as Crowd Watches
After a longshoreman shattered a saloon mirror, proprietor Dan McNamara beat him in the street while about thirty bystanders failed to intervene.
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 man identified as Caulfield, a longshoreman, staggered to the corner of Washington Street and First Avenue this morning and threw a rock at the saloon’s mirror. There was a crash of glass that could be heard for half a block, and the noise attracted a large crowd of men to the scene. Dan McNamara, the proprietor of the saloon, who was behind the bar, made a rush for the door and pounced on the wretched victim. Then followed a scene of most revolting brutality. While fully thirty men stood around on one of Seattle's busiest thoroughfares, McNamara struck the intoxicated man again and again, drawing blood on the face of his victim. Caulfield made a feeble attempt to protect himself but was almost as helpless as a baby. McNamara did not seem satisfied even when his victim lay on the pavement. While his victim lay there, the saloon owner tried to kick Caulfield in the face. A bright red stain on the dirt pavement told how terribly effective his work was. Not a man in the crowd of spectators interfered while this brutal work was going on. Not a policeman was in sight to assist the battered longshoreman. When it looked as though a murder might be committed, a businessman rushed from the crowd and interfered. McNamara then coolly walked into his saloon and commenced to treat drinks. The object of his attack feebly staggered to his feet and made his way slowly towards the waterfront. And still no policeman appeared. The disgraceful incident occurred shortly before 11 o’clock this morning while the streets were thronged with pedestrians.
“Not a man in the crowd of spectators interfered while this brutal work was going on. Not a policeman was in sight to assist the battered longshoreman.”
Public violence and the failure of bystander intervention remain persistent urban issues in Seattle, reflecting a long-standing tension between the city's growth and its core of social disorder. The intersection of Washington and First remains a central point of intersection for the historic and modern city's grit.
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