A Lake Chelan Man Says He Was Beaten and Robbed in a Seattle Saloon
Martin Fleming claims the proprietor and a bartender of the Bureau saloon took $95 in gold from his pockets while a woman held his arms — but the saloonkeeper tells a very different story.
According to the story of Martin Fleming, a man of respectable appearance, who hails from Lake Chelan, he was robbed of $95 in gold and also beaten in the Bureau saloon, at the corner of South Second and Washington streets, early Monday morning.
Detectives Corbett and Phillips yesterday arrested John Egan, proprietor of the saloon; James Burk, a bartender; Kitty Gibson, alias Kelly, and Belle West, for complicity in the alleged crime. Fleming says himself that he does not think Kitty Gibson had anything to do with the robbery, and is doubtful of Belle West's complicity. He is positive, however, that Egan took the money from his pockets and that Burk hit him two or three times while the robbery was being committed.
Fleming says that he went into the saloon with a friend, who subsequently left him, owing to an invitation from Egan to get out of the place. Fleming went into a box, according to his story, where the two men were sitting. The men left after one drink. Then in came Kitty Gibson and Belle West. Another drink was served, and then, according to Fleming, Egan tried to "make him pay for wine he had not ordered." They kept trying to make him drink, and finally he took a sip of champagne. Then he tried to get out of the place, but Belle West pleaded with him to remain. He tried to break away from her when Egan came at him, saying: "You — you've got money," and went through his pockets while the woman was holding his arms. During the trouble, [Fleming says], Burk came in and hit him on the head two or three times.
After Fleming got out of the saloon he wandered about the city until he met a policeman, who told him to go to bed, and when he got straightened out to have his assailants arrested.
Egan says that Fleming spent $10 in gold in his place for champagne, but had no row and was not robbed or beaten. He was released on bail.
“"You — you've got money," and went through his pockets while the woman was holding his arms.”
The Bureau saloon at South Second and Washington was part of the Pioneer Square tenderloin that city leaders spent the 1890s trying to clean up. The case shows how a night out could turn into a contested he-said-she-said, with the women in the box treated as accomplices and the saloonkeeper bailed out within a day — a dynamic familiar to anyone who has watched a downtown assault case today.
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