Pitchfork Violence in the Harvest Field
A simple argument over a whiskey bottle near Pullman escalated into a violent assault with a pitchfork and a heavy roller.
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.
What was at first reported to be a murder, and may yet result fatally, occurred yesterday on the farm of W. B. Stevenson, about seven miles from Pullman. John Klavano and a young man named Wright, members of the harvesting crew, got into a scuffle over a whiskey bottle, when Klavano, becoming angry, picked up a pitchfork and ran it into Wright's hand. Wright picked up a heavy roller belonging to a header and struck Klavano on the head, breaking the skull. A doctor was called and Klavano was removed to Pullman, where he recovered consciousness in the evening. Wright was arrested and placed in jail to await the outcome of the affair.
“John Klavano and a young man named Wright, members of the harvesting crew, got into a scuffle over a whisky bottle.”
Agricultural accidents and violent disputes were frequent hazards of the grueling harvest labor cycles in Eastern Washington. These events remind us that the 'booming' wheat economy of the 1890s was built on dangerous, unregulated labor conditions where personal disputes could turn lethal in a moment.
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