The Unwilling Dancing Master
A homesteader terrorizes a Kahlotus saloon, forcing patrons to dance at gunpoint before his arrest.
James W. Foster, a homesteader living seven miles northeast of Kahlotus, was fined $25 and costs by Justice Dickson on Monday. Defendant was brought down Sunday by Constable Wilsey, and was charged with disorderly conduct. It seems that Foster went into Hale's saloon in Kahlotus Saturday night, and pulling a big Colt's .45 pistol, terrorized the inmates and then ran things to suit himself. Mr. Hale, L. P. Wallace, and E. O. Marshall were in the house at the time and at Foster's command Mr. Hale set out a lunch and the drinks for the party. He held up Marshall and Wallace for money, but 5 cents was all they could produce. After that he turned dancing master, and with the gun aimed at Wallace, requested that gentleman to try a double-shuffle—Mr. Wallace said he couldn't do it, and after more talk and drinks, Foster was induced to go out of the house. He was drunk at the time and is considered by his neighbors as being demented, which accounts for the light punishment imposed.
“He turned dancing master, and with the gun aimed at Wallace, requested that gentleman to try a double-shuffle.”
While Kahlotus is a quiet, tiny town today, frontier justice and 'saloons as public living rooms' were the center of civic conflict in 1903. This story captures the precarious nature of public safety in the rural frontier, where an armed, intoxicated neighbor could hold the local establishment captive.
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