The Deadly Cost of a Black Diamond Burglary
A thwarted nighttime break-in at a mining camp saloon ends in a fatal shooting, prompting a coroner's verdict of justifiable homicide.
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.
William D. Kelly, alias Frank Murphy, was shot by Special Officer Webber while making a burglarious entrance to the cabin of Michael Krause at Black Diamond about 10 o'clock Monday night. Kelly, a young man who had been employed intermittently by contractors at the Black Diamond mines, bore a reputation in camp as a dangerous man. He had recently returned to the area under a disguise—shaved moustache, cropped hair, and goggles—and was overheard by an acquaintance, Harry Bebee, boasting of plans to rob the saloonkeeper's cabin. Bebee, acting on the advice of Justice of the Peace Robert Bridges, pretended to be an accomplice while keeping local authorities informed. On Monday night, Webber, a miner armed with a Winchester rifle, lay in wait inside the cabin. When Kelly crawled through the window and leveled a revolver at the officer, Webber fired, striking Kelly in the groin. The intruder died hours later. Sheriff McGraw investigated the scene and, following a swift inquest, a jury returned a verdict of 'justifiable homicide.'
“He said he had provided himself with chloroform, laudanum, a chisel and a revolver, and that he would have the money and a dead man, too, if any fuss was made about it.”
This 1889 account of a lethal confrontation at a mining site mirrors the era’s vigilante-adjacent approach to law enforcement in remote Washington camps. The reliance on private individuals like Webber to 'protect' property before formal police infrastructure existed captures the raw, volatile nature of early Washington's industrial frontiers.
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