A Boulder, a Pistol, and a Saloon Reckoning
Harvey Goodman came back to Reis' saloon after being thrown out, setting off a rock attack, a gunshot, and two prosecutions in Newport.
As a result of a row and gunplay in Reis' saloon Saturday night, the justice court of D. R. Lusher was busy Wednesday. A young fellow named Harvey Goodman had been thrown out of the place by the bartender Friday and returned Saturday evening to even up matters. Without ceremony he saluted the bartender with a good-sized boulder, which hit him on the side of the nose, caromed off to the wall and came back and hit the bartender another bad blow on the side of the face. Mr. Reis pulled a gun on the offender and took a shot at him, but owing to the presence of quite a crowd was unable to make a close shot and the fellow got away. He was arrested the next day at LaClede and brought back to Newport by Sheriff Doust, who turned him loose here to fall into the clutches of the local authorities. County Attorney Rochford came over to appear for the state, and Mr. Sherlock appeared for the defendant. The judge held him to the Superior Court on the charge of assault with intent to commit great bodily injury. As an aftermath Mr. Reis was arrested, charged with flourishing a deadly weapon, it being charged that when a brother of the man Goodman appeared in the saloon later in the same evening, the bartender set upon him and that Reis flourished the gun again. A hearing in this matter will be held July 28.
“Without ceremony he saluted the bartender with a good-sized boulder, which hit him on the side of the nose, caromed off to the wall and came back and hit the bartender another bad blow on the side of the face.”
A century later, small-town bars still concentrate late-night disputes, guns and court dates; this item shows how local justices, sheriffs and county attorneys handled a violent incident without a modern police department. The saloon itself is part of Newport's older commercial landscape, but the corner where a boulder and a pistol decided a score still reads like a familiar civic headache.
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