Dance Hall Rivalry Turns Violent
Jealousy over a courtesan leads to a public shooting outside a downtown boarding house.
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.
Jack Burk, a young engineer from Montesano, was arrested last night at 11:25 o'clock on the charge of shooting at Martin Trobitz, a sailor, with a 38-caliber revolver in the doorway of the Columbus house, on the corner of South Third and Main streets. The trouble originated in the New Zealand dance hall last Friday night. Trobitz and Burk became jealous of his attentions to a courtesan and struck him on the eye. He did not seem to have Burk arrested and the matter dropped. Last night Trobitz was in the dance hall again, when Burk and his companions entered. They commenced pointing at Trobitz, and some of the latter's friends told him to leave. He started for the American hotel, but says Burk and his friends caught up with him at the corner of Main and South Third streets. He made a rush for the entrance to the Columbus house, near by, Burk after him. As Trobitz got to the door the sharp report of a revolver was heard and a bullet struck near him. Officers Slater and Hamilton arrested Burk before more trouble occurred. James Campbell, who is supposed to be a friend of Burk, is held as a witness. Trobitz recently left the ship Invincible, now at Port Blakeley. Burk is in an ugly mood and refuses to talk.
“They commenced pointing at Trobitz, and some of the latter's friends told him to leave.”
This incident captures the volatile social friction of the late 19th-century waterfront district, where saloons and boarding houses acted as the primary hubs for transient laborers and sailors. The intersection of South Third and Main remains a central piece of Seattle’s historical map, though the 'New Zealand' and 'Columbus House' are long gone, replaced by the modern infrastructure of the Pioneer Square area.
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