The Tailor’s Violent Temper
When a disgruntled employee suggested his boss find his own stolen goods, the tailor responded with a five-shot revolver in the middle of the shop.
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.
There was a shooting matinee at T. O. Hennessy’s this afternoon, in which Hennessy did the shooting and Henry Hillary was the target. Hennessy had some clothing stolen from his tailoring establishment and was bemoaning the fact, when Hillary, one of his employees, suggested that he might take the trouble to hunt up the thief. But Hennessy, who had been drinking, was not prepared to take advice from his subordinate, so he whipped out his ever-ready revolver and took five or six shots at Hillary, who sat in a chair. Hillary dodged several of the balls successfully and succeeded in getting to his feet, when one struck him just above his right hip. He was satisfied that it had buried itself in his kidneys and that he was killed. He was taken to the hospital, where he was examined, and it was found to be merely a skin wound. He and Hennessy were both the worse for liquor, and Hillary still maintains that he can still feel the ball in his kidneys and that he is going to die, though he will probably be up and around to-morrow. Hennessy was arrested.
“Hennessy, who had been drinking, was not prepared to take advice from his subordinate, so he whipped out his ever-ready revolver and took five or six shots at Hillary.”
Workplace conflicts in the late 19th century were often as volatile as today’s headlines, though rarely punctuated by the specific brand of 'shooting matinee' seen here. The story captures a rugged, alcohol-fueled era of commerce in Washington where the line between boss and employee was often as blurred as it was dangerous.
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