A Red-Ink Grudge in Tacoma
A minor mail-tampering incident leads to a brutal cane and boot assault at a Tacoma boarding house.
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.
G. E. Yerger, who laid Harold T. Sabin's scalp open with a cane yesterday and also cut an ugly gash in Sabin's cheek with the heel of his boot, had been looking for Sabin for several days. Mrs. Yerger and Master Yerger arrived here recently from the East and for a time roomed with the Sabins at 409 C street. Yerger stated several days ago that Mrs. Yerger and their boy had not got on well with the Sabins, and they decided to go to the Montello Hotel. It appears that Mr. Sabin, in remailing Mr. Yerger's mail, had written in red ink in the lower left-hand corner of some of the envelopes the following: 'think they feed at the Montello.' This was considered an insult by Mr. Yerger. Yerger excuses his violent attack by saying Sabin made threats, and he claims he knocked him down with his fist and, Sabin still persisting in reaching for his hip pocket, Yerger hit him with a cane and kicked him. Yerger will probably not be arrested and the matter will be hushed up.
“This was considered an insult by Mr. Yerger and he at once began looking for Sabin and revenge.”
This violent escalation over a perceived social slight highlights the volatility of private interpersonal disputes in a boarding house culture. The nonchalant reporting that the assault would likely be 'hushed up' hints at the selective application of justice in 1890s Tacoma.
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