Fatal Shooting at Franklin Coal Mine
A quarrel between roommates at the Franklin coal camp ends in a point-blank execution, leaving the community reeling and the assailant in custody.
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.
William Holmes shot his roommate, William B. Russell, in the forehead at Franklin on Thursday afternoon. The shooting occurred after a dispute over a missing revolver. Constable G. W. Smalley had intervened earlier in the day when the two men were seen arguing in front of the company saloon. Russell had slapped Holmes in the face, but the constable separated them and advised them to go home. Holmes instead retrieved the gun from an acquaintance and returned to where Russell and the constable were standing. Despite a warning shout, Holmes approached and fired, the bullet striking Russell's brain. Russell fell forward and died, while Holmes attempted to flee before being captured by Smalley. Holmes, who appears listless and haggard, remains in the King County jail awaiting the outcome of the case.
“As the .38-caliber bullet crashed through his skull and into his brain Russell fell forward like a log upon Holmes.”
The precarious nature of life in late 19th-century industrial camps—where company saloons and company doctors dominated the landscape—highlights the intense pressures of mining life in the Pacific Northwest. Today, Franklin is a ghost town, a vanished industrial outpost that serves as a reminder of the thousands of men who labored in the coal seams surrounding Seattle.
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