Violence Erupts at the Whatcom Express
A newspaper editor finds himself in a street brawl after reporting on a local motorneer's alleged misconduct.
John De Tiere, editor of the Whatcom Express, was assaulted Thursday evening by G. E. Woodward, an electric motorneer whom he had accused of criminal intimacy with a half-witted girl named Zink. Woodward hit the editor; they clinched; the editor got out his revolver and fired, but missed, and spectators interfered.
“Woodward hit the editor; they clinched; the editor got out his revolver and fired, but missed, and spectators interfered.”
This violent confrontation between a journalist and a subject of his reporting reflects the raw, frontier-style press culture of 1890s Washington, where disputes were often settled with pistols rather than lawsuits.
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