The Second Murder Trial of J.W. Bailey
A miner stands trial for the shooting death of a rival in a domestic dispute that exposed the volatility of camp life.
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 second trial of J.W. Bailey, a negro miner who shot and killed another negro miner, Downey, at Newcastle May 22, 1891, in a row over a mistress, Mrs. Kitty McClain, was begun yesterday before Judge Humes. On June 27, Bailey was convicted of murder in the second degree, but Judge Humes set the verdict aside on the ground that the evidence did not warrant such a verdict. Ill feeling had existed between the two men for some time over Bailey's attentions to Downey's mistress, who was living with him, and Bailey carried a gun for some time, expecting trouble. At the time of the shooting, Bailey was visiting Kitty in the absence of Downey, who, returning home, became angry at finding Bailey there. He ordered Bailey out of the house, and on his refusing to leave, a fight ensued. Downey used a broken chair back on Bailey's head, whereupon Bailey drew his revolver and shot Downey three times.
“Ill feeling had existed between the two men for some time over Bailey's attentions to Downey's mistress... and Bailey carried a gun for some time, expecting trouble.”
This incident at the Newcastle coal mines highlights the extreme domestic instability and violence prevalent in 19th-century resource extraction camps. It captures a moment where private disputes in segregated labor housing were frequently settled with fatal, instantaneous violence, a reality often overlooked in the broader history of Seattle's industrial boom.
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