The Deadly Spring-Gun Trap of Whatcom
A laborer seeking shelter in a boarded-up cabin is killed instantly by a rigged shotgun, sparking a legal inquiry into property traps.
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.
John Erickson, a Swede, about 35 years of age, met a tragic death last evening at a little cabin near Squalicum Creek in Whatcom. He had been promised work on the Northwest Diagonal road, and, in company with Nils Anderson, he had started for the place designated by the contractors. Noticing the apparently vacant cabin, they intended to pass the night there. Boards had been nailed across the door, and when Erickson took hold of one of them and started to remove it, a gun was discharged inside and he fell backward, crying, 'I am killed.' Anderson ran for help, but Erickson was found dead, his abdomen riddled by a charge of slugs. The cabin had been burglarized several times, and the owners, Barr and Pixley, had rigged an old Springfield muzzle-loading musket to discharge if the door was opened. J. L. Pixley, the son of an owner, is under arrest as an accessory.
“A gun was discharged inside and he fell backward with the cry, 'I am killed.'”
This tragedy speaks to the long history of private property 'defense' in Washington, echoing contemporary debates about the legal thresholds of protecting one's home and the moral consequences of lethal force in non-emergency situations. Squalicum Creek remains a landmark in Bellingham (formerly Whatcom), serving as a reminder of a time when labor scarcity and rough justice defined the frontier experience.
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