Two Deaths at Port Blakely, and a Killer's Surrender
A newly arrived blacksmith was shot in the back at the Port Blakely mill; a child was killed in the same attack, and the assailant gave himself up after days in the woods.
SEATTLE, Jan. 1.—George A. Brown, who was shot down on the street at Port Blakely by Joe Nicolos, a Guam islander, Tuesday night—at the same time Nicolos killed the 4-year-old child of Jose Blied—died at 6 o'clock yesterday at the Providence hospital. Brown was shot in the back without reason, after being in the man's company only a short time on Tuesday. So far as he knew, he had never seen the man before in his life.
The shooting occurred on the day Mrs. Brown arrived from Tacoma to live at her new home at Port Blakely, where her husband had obtained employment as a blacksmith. She had met her husband at the mill and was making her first trip with him to their new home when he was shot down.
Half dead from exposure and hunger, Nicolos, the murderer, gave himself up to the authorities at Port Orchard this morning.
“Half dead from exposure and hunger, Nicolos, the murderer, gave himself up to the authorities at Port Orchard this morning.”
Port Blakely is now part of Bainbridge Island, where the old mill town has largely vanished. The story also shows how early 20th-century papers framed a Pacific Islander suspect through the language of 'insanity' and 'savagery'—a reminder to read the crime coverage for the biases of the reporter as well as the facts.
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