The Fire at Conconnully
A saloon proprietor is found dead in the ashes of his building, sparking suspicions of a cold-blooded murder for profit.
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.
Conconnully, Okanogan county, Sept. 14—Moss' saloon building, on Main street, Conconnully, opposite the Elliott hotel, was burned to the ground this morning between 12 and 1 o'clock, and at daylight the charred remains of the proprietor were taken from the ruins. The supposition is that Moss was murdered for his money, and then the building set on fire to cover up the deed. Moss was always supposed to have a considerable amount of ready money. An hour before the fire broke out Mr. Howland, manager of the Elliott hotel, heard a shot from the direction of the hotel and got up and looked out, but hearing no further disturbance, thought no more of it until the alarm of fire. It was only by the greatest efforts that the Elliott hotel building and Hunter's store, on opposite corners of the street, were saved, there being no water or fire service in the town.
“The supposition is that Moss was murdered for his money, and then the building set on fire to cover up the deed.”
Conconnully, once a bustling mining town and the Okanogan County seat, suffered numerous fires and floods before largely fading away. Today, it remains a quiet destination, a shadow of the boom-town volatility that defined the 1890s in the Pacific Northwest.
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