Ambushed by the Tracks
Striking workers and federal marshals exchange fire on the rails near Puyallup as the 1894 Pullman strike grips Western Washington.
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 small crowd watching the trains at the Lake Shore depot was excited shortly before 6 o'clock by the report that the incoming Northern Pacific train from Portland had been fired on by a mob near Auburn. The train fired on was the Tacoma local. It was in charge of Conductor Mixer, Engineer C. W. Green, and Fireman D. Jacobus. About a mile this side of the Puyallup reservation, half a dozen pistol shots were fired at the engine from both sides of the track, the shooters being ambushed in the woods. There were three deputy United States marshals on the train in charge of William T. Faucett, who was on the engine. They were armed with Winchesters and at once returned the fire, sending twenty-eight bullets into the vicinity of the assailants. Only one of the attacking party was seen, described as wearing a brown coat. The tool box on the engineer's side was struck by two bullets, and others whistled past the cab. The train did not stop, but when it reached Auburn, the incident was reported to the authorities.
“The only thing the marshals could see to fire at was the smoke from the assailants' pistols.”
This incident occurred during the Pullman Strike of 1894, a pivotal moment in American labor history that pitted federalized militia against union workers. Today, the site of the ambush near Puyallup is a residential corridor, but the tension between corporate rail interests and the labor force remains a persistent rhythm in the region's civic development.
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