A Nighttime Scuffle in Palouse
An unexpected shooting between two strangers in a small Washington town turns into a case of mistaken identity.
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.
A man named Richard Keith was shot in the leg in Palouse, Washington, by another man whose name is unknown. Keith, who had recently arrived from Walla Walla, was walking up Main Street about 7 o'clock in the evening when he was confronted by a gun held by the only other Black man in town. A scuffle ensued, during which Keith was shot. Keith managed to take the weapon from his assailant and notified the city marshal, who placed the man under arrest. The assailant, who appeared to be under the influence of liquor, claimed that in the darkness he mistook Keith for the city marshal, whom he intended to shoot. Keith is currently under the care of the city health officer; his wound is severe but not considered dangerous.
“He claims that the man who did the shooting was an entire stranger.”
This account highlights the vulnerability of Black travelers in early 20th-century Washington, where demographics were often sparse and encounters were frequently framed through lenses of suspicion and prejudice by the local press. The casual documentation of such violent, irrational encounters illustrates the precariousness of life for marginalized populations in the era's small towns.
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