The Brush-Fence Feud
A long-standing dispute between two prominent ranchers ends in a fatal ambush in rural Thurston County.
J. S. McCabe, a rancher living about eighteen miles from Olympia, was shot by a neighbor named George W. Manville this evening and died a few minutes later. Both men were prominent in the county and had extensive ranches. The tragedy is supposed to be the outcome of an old feud, increased by Manville's recent suit against the Northern Pacific, in which McCabe appeared as a witness against him. Sometime ago they had a personal altercation, in which Manville was sued for assault. The only witness to the tragedy was Tom Conboy. He and McCabe were going to Tenino when Conboy called McCabe's attention to something in the brush along the fence. They recognized Manville with a Winchester resting on one of the rails and pointing at McCabe. McCabe whispered to Conboy that he did not think Manville would shoot, but had no sooner given utterance to the words than Manville fired, and McCabe dropped. He died a few minutes later. Manville went to Tenino and said he would wait for the arrival of the sheriff.
“McCabe whispered to Conboy that he did not think Manville would shoot, but had no sooner given utterance to the words than Manville fired.”
This violent culmination of a property dispute feels worlds away from modern suburban Olympia, yet it echoes the tensions of frontier-era land rights. The brutal nature of the ambush over a fence line highlights how high the stakes were for settlers carving out claims in the Washington Territory.
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