Showdown at the Waterfront: Pistol Fire at Pacific Avenue
A simmering legal dispute over valuable waterfront property exploded into violence as a landholder took up arms to halt construction crews.
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.
Tacoma, May 18—There is a serious controversy over the ownership of the property at the foot of Pacific avenue and the Northern Pacific railroad. Mr. Hatch was compelled to threaten the lives of the workmen this morning, after the injunction restraining them from working had been issued by Judge Allyn. Several pistol shots were fired, but nobody was hurt. The case will be argued a week from next Monday.
“Mr. Hatch was compelled to threaten the lives of the workmen this morning... Several pistol shots were fired, but nobody was hurt.”
This 1889 confrontation over a prime patch of waterfront property highlights a persistent theme in Puget Sound history: the fierce, and sometimes violent, struggle to claim and develop the shoreline. Today’s debates over the redevelopment of the Seattle and Tacoma waterfronts—and who truly owns the public trust in that land—remain deeply connected to these early colonial-era land grabs.
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