The Snow Drove Twenty Elk to the Beach. A Hunter Killed Them All.
Near Brinnon, settlers formed a vigilance committee after an unknown hunter slaughtered a snowbound herd—and then burned his cabin.
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.
PORT TOWNSEND, Jan. 3.—Special.—A telephone message was received today from Brinnon saying that an unknown hunter yesterday killed twenty head of elk and left the carcasses at the bottom of a ravine. The recent heavy snows in the mountains drove the animals down to the beach along Hood Canal. The hunter came along and mercilessly slew the herd. The settlers organized a vigilance committee and started after him. He had gotten wind of the movement and fled. His cabin and its contents were burned to the ground.
“The hunter came along and mercilessly slew the herd. The settlers organized a vigilance committee and started after him.”
Hood Canal’s elk herds are still part of the region’s identity, and wildlife agents now police poaching through permits and courts rather than vigilance committees. The story captures both the fragility of wintering wildlife and the rough justice of 1890s Puget Sound.
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