The Bully of Wenatchee Gets Two Years
A notorious local agitator faces justice for a violent stabbing at a public dance.
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.
Superior Judge C. B. Graves sentenced Felix Shaser to two years' hard labor in the penitentiary at Walla Walla. Shaser was well known in the county as a swaggering, blustering bully, whose sole ambition seemed to be to fill up with corn juice and then browbeat and bulldoze anyone who might be so unfortunate as to cross his majesty's path. The crime for which Shaser was sentenced was for the stabbing of William Lee last winter at a dance in Wenatchee. Shaser walked up to Lee and deliberately spat in his face, following up this flippant insult by viciously stabbing Lee with a knife. The general sentiment seems to be that Shaser received his just deserts, and that Judge Graves in giving him the full extent of time never gave a sentence more in accordance with justice.
“Shaser is well known in the county as a swaggering, blustering bully, whose sole ambition seemed to be to fill up with corn juice and then browbeat and bulldoze anyone who might be so unfortunate as to cross his majesty's path.”
This account of a 'dance hall bully' highlights the role of the early legal system in controlling rowdy, public behavior in rural frontier communities. Today, such crimes would still be adjudicated in Superior Court, but the 'swaggering bully' persona remains a staple of local news narratives regarding public safety and nightlife.
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