Brutal Murder of Local Gambler Sparks Manhunt
A Chinese gambler is murdered in a Colfax alley, leading to a swift, multi-town pursuit and the capture of a suspect near the Snake River.
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 violent murder occurred Sunday morning at 1 o'clock at Colfax in a narrow alley between two Chinese shacks at the north end of the Main street bridge. Ching, a Chinese gambler on his way to bed, was waylaid, struck with a blow that shattered his cheekbone, and his throat was cut with a heavy knife. Despite the severity of the wounds, the man lived for seven hours, eventually dying at St. Ignatius hospital. Wong Kee, known as 'Highbinder,' was captured Sunday evening near Penawawa by Deputy Sheriff Carter. While Highbinder initially misled the officer by claiming to be a worker at Fincher’s orchard—an alibi supported by two white women—Carter eventually tracked him down in a side canyon. Upon arrest, the suspect reportedly exclaimed, 'Who tellee you? I no kill Ching.' Sheriff Canutt later recovered a blood-stained revolver and the suspect's hat hidden at the orchard camp. The suspect is currently in custody, and E. K. Hanna has been retained for his defense.
“The deputy, knowing the unreliability of Mongolians where trouble has arisen among them, would not have been fooled for the time being, but two white girls working in a fruit packing house—to whom probably all Chinamen look alike—added their testimony that the man had certainly worked with them for several days.”
This event highlights the racial tensions and localized violence prevalent in late 19th-century Washington, where Chinese laborers and residents were frequently marginalized and targeted by both crime and the legal system. The reliance on 'white' witness testimony to initially clear the suspect versus the 'unreliability of Mongolians' noted by the deputy reflects the systemic prejudice that shaped justice in the Palouse at the turn of the century.
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