A Violent Toll on the Frontier
Two separate, brutal robbery attempts in Cle Elum and Toppenish leave a farmer beaten and a laborer fighting for his life.
John Bean, a prominent 60-year-old farmer living at Nelson Siding, six miles west of Cle Elum, was alone Monday evening when he was robbed. He was called to his door by a man claiming to have a team stuck in the road. When Bean opened the door, he was struck over the head with a heavy revolver. After handing over $420 and a gold watch, Bean attempted to escape, only to be struck twice more by the robbers' guns. He eventually secured a pitchfork and managed to drive them off. In a separate incident near Toppenish, C. P. Brown, a workman from Ellensburg, was shot through the thigh and bowels by a man identified as G. D. Williams. Brown had jumped from a freight train when he was confronted and held at gunpoint. Williams was later apprehended and jailed, though Brown's injuries are reported to be potentially fatal.
“The robbers demanded more money which they claimed was on the premises. Bean stated that his wife was in Roslyn and had taken all the rest of the money with her.”
Violent opportunistic crimes targeting laborers and isolated residents remain a stark reality in rural transit corridors. The case of C. P. Brown, caught in a struggle while riding the rails, mirrors the ongoing vulnerability of transient populations in the Pacific Northwest.
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