Pool Hall Altercation Ends in Shooting
A disagreement over a bar tab leads to a violent confrontation in Old Town Tacoma, leaving one man in critical condition.
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.
On Wednesday night a man named Pedro, or 'Prussian Pete,' was shot in the breast by Frank Angelese at Old Town and probably fatally wounded. The two men had been playing pool together in Zelinsky's saloon in the afternoon and had gotten into an altercation as to who should pay for the drinks. After some strong language, they separated, Angelese threatening to 'fix' Pedro. They met again in the evening on the street, and Angelese asked Pedro for a cigarette, at the same time drawing a revolver, saying, 'You, I'll fix you,' and shooting at Pedro. The ball passed through Pedro's hand, struck a rib, and lodged in the back of his shirt. Angelese was arrested and is now confined in the county jail. The doctor says the man would have been killed instantly if the ball had not passed through his hand first. Pedro is an elderly man who has conducted himself in a quiet and peaceable manner.
“After some strong language being used on both sides they separated, Angelese threatening to fix him.”
This incident illustrates the commonality of gun violence in saloons of the era, which frequently acted as the central, yet volatile, social hubs for the working-class waterfront communities of 19th-century Tacoma.
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