A Posse at the Door: A Frightened Rancher Shoots the Marshal Who Came to Help
Colville's city marshal is gravely wounded before dawn when a rancher, already robbed once that week, fires on the officers he takes for a second gang of highwaymen.
City Marshal Wright, of Colville, was probably fatally shot by George Rusch, a rancher living near that town, early Wednesday morning.
It appears that one of the Rusch boys had cashed a check in Colville for $50, and while returning to his home was held up by highwaymen and relieved of his roll. He telephoned to the authorities and Sheriff Graham and Marshal Wright went to the scene to try and trace the robbers. Early in the morning, before daybreak, they went to the house occupied by the Rusch boys to learn more particulars regarding the crime. They called to the occupants of the house and told them that they were a sheriff's posse, but it seems that the Rusches did not understand the call, as they were badly frightened and feared another robbery.
The officers went to the door and George Rusch appeared with a rifle, which he discharged. The bullet struck Wright, inflicting a very serious wound. He was taken to Colville and is resting easier at this writing, but there are slight chances for his recovery. Rusch gave himself up but was allowed to go, as Wright stated that there was no criminal liability on his part and he did not desire to have him prosecuted.
“"Rusch gave himself up but was allowed to go, as Wright stated that there was no criminal liability on his part and he did not desire to have him prosecuted."”
A pre-dawn knock at a rural door, a family already victimized once, and an officer shot by the man he came to protect: the story turns on nothing but fear and a misheard voice in the dark. Northeastern Washington's suspicion of armed strangers at the door has not thinned much in a century, and neither has the difficulty of policing a county of scattered ranches. What lingers is Wright's own verdict — that the shooter bore no blame — a piece of grace almost impossible to imagine in a modern incident report.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.