A Boy, a Land Fight, and a Fatal Shot on the White Salmon
A 17-year-old says a quarrel over land rights turned into an ax attack; his neighbor is dead and a Klickitat County courtroom will have to sort out what happened.
Goldendale, Wash., April 1.—Word has reached here that Stephen Huff, a boy aged 17, shot twice and killed Wilhelm Feldberg at the Huff ranch on the White Salmon River, in this county. The bullet passed through his heart. The altercation was over land rights. Huff claims he fired in self-defense. He says the deceased assaulted him with an ax.
“The altercation was over land rights. Huff claims he fired in self-defense.”
Land disputes in rural Washington still carry a frontier charge, but the 1895 case also shows how quickly a property quarrel could become lethal before modern policing or courts could arrive. The White Salmon River country remains a patchwork of farms, timber and contested water rights.
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