Midnight Hold-up at the Pasco Rail Yards
A group of laborers bound for the harvest fields were confronted by masked gunmen in the dark; one victim was shot while hesitating to comply.
PASCO, Wash., July 8. (Special.)—Four young men lying in the freight yards near the ice house waiting for a train out Monday night were approached by four masked men and ordered to throw up their hands. One of those accosted, E. S. Shaw, failed to instantly comply, thinking it some sort of a joke. One of the hold-ups fired at Shaw, the bullet striking him in the lower abdomen on the right side and piercing the left leg. After taking the few cents the young men had, the hold-ups ordered them up the track. Shaw succeeded in dragging himself to the court house, where he reported the affair. A physician was summoned and Shaw’s wounds attended to. The other young men swung around and returned to town, but a search by local police and Northern Pacific officers revealed no suspects. Shaw is 30 years old and was bound for the harvest fields when attacked.
“One of those accosted, E. S. Shaw, failed to instantly comply, thinking it some sort of a joke.”
Rail yard robberies were a common hazard for itinerant workers during the harvest season in the early 20th century. Today, the site of the old Pasco yards remains a vital, albeit modernized, logistics hub, though the era of 'riding the rails' and the associated dangers to transient labor has long since passed.
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