A Tavern Shooting Over a Refused Drink
A notorious local man opens fire in a saloon after a laborer refuses his offer to share a round.
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.
Willa Coyle, a notorious character who has heretofore figured in several criminal transactions, shot a laborer named Johnson this evening in Schwarz's saloon, inflicting a painful wound in the leg. Johnson and a party of friends were sitting at a table drinking beer in the saloon. Coyle had been drinking and had been round town all day spoiling for a fight; he insisted upon drinking with Johnson, but the latter refused to let him, whereupon Coyle pulled out a revolver and fired. The bullet passed through the table and entered Johnson's knee, passing upwards to the groin. Coyle was locked up.
“Coyle had been drinking and had been round town all day spoiling for a fight.”
This reflects the volatile social atmosphere of 1890s saloons, where 'spoiling for a fight' was a common description for the era's frequent public violence. It highlights the dangerous reality of unregulated public drinking spaces before the temperance movement gained its final legislative strength.
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