The Lynch Law in Conconully
After settlers in Okanogan County took an Indigenous prisoner from jail to hang him, local officials scrambled to arm the white population, fearing a retaliatory uprising.
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.
CONCONULLY, Wash., via Coulee City, Jan 10.—To His Excellency Charles E. Laughton, Governor: An Indian, who was implicated in the murder of Cole in October, was last night taken from jail and hanged. Owing to the fact that he had given himself up to the sheriff, and the bitter feeling existing between citizens and Indians at this time, serious trouble is feared. The priest says the Indians have held four meetings lately, and the young bucks are anxious for an outbreak. They have manifested in different ways that they are angered. The citizens of the county are comparatively unarmed, and the situation at this time demands that we ask of you to do all in your power to have 500 rifles, with sufficient ammunition, sent at once to Coulee City, that our citizens may be armed and be prepared as well as possible for an outbreak. Representative Smith of Okanogan, in speaking of the matter, said: 'In October two Indians murdered a man named Cole, and one of them was killed by a sheriff’s posse. The other gave himself up. A mob lynched the other Indian last night, and now the Indians who have been quiet about other things seriously threaten to go on the warpath. The Okanogan Indians are a warlike race, though they have given no trouble for many years.'
“Owing to the fact that he had given himself up to the sheriff, and the bitter feeling existing between citizens and Indians at this time, serious trouble is feared.”
This 1891 report highlights the recurring tension between frontier vigilantism and the state's attempt to centralize security. The language reveals a era where 'white safety' was immediately equated with military armament, reflecting a structural anxiety over land and power that remains a deep undercurrent in Washington State history.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.