They Killed Poor Mac
A widow steps off the stage at Pomeroy's St. George Hotel with news of her husband's death in Dayton — and the town's sympathy stops short of the dead man.
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.
No one in Pomeroy knew of McPherson's death until his wife got out of the stage at the St. George Hotel and said to Mr. Harry St. George, "They have killed poor Mac; please send some one back to meet the body." Then the news flew through Pomeroy like wildfire, and when the body arrived it was put into an agricultural warehouse. The coffin was opened and the people gazed at the now hideous form, for his face was black and blue and his body swollen — so much so that they feared it would burst the coffin. They therefore buried him the same evening about 7 o'clock. The whole town turned out, and the Rev. Mr. Whitcomb preached a funeral service and baptized two of McPherson's children over their father's grave. Great sympathy was manifested for the poor widow, but as for Mac the people firmly said, "Served him right." When the driver who hauled the body asked Mrs. McPherson who was to pay him, she said: "Dayton did all the mischief, let her pay you; but if Dayton won't, I will when I sell my wheat." — W. W.
“They have killed poor Mac; please send some one back to meet the body.”
The item never says what McPherson was accused of, which is part of the horror: a man could be killed, his body put on display, and his neighbors could decide he had it coming. The widow's plea over the driver's fee — and her promise to pay after the wheat was sold — shows who bore the practical costs of extralegal violence. Washington's early history is full of such half-told vigilante episodes, and they still shape questions about due process and whose deaths get investigated.
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