The Tragedy at the Simon Newman Store
A violent confrontation at a local trading post ends in 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.
A shooting affray occurred here today, which resulted in the death of one of the participants named Hubbell. W. Miles was in town to do some trading, and, while at the store of Simon Newman, Hubbell entered. Without provocation or words, Hubbell struck Miles in the face with a pistol. Miles at the time of the assault was sitting on the counter. Hubbell was seized and ordered out of the store. As Miles was leaving, about fifteen minutes later, Hubbell met him on the porch. Hubbell jumped down to the ground, went around to his team and drew a revolver, when Miles fired, hitting him in the neck and killing him instantly. The coroner's jury returned a verdict of justifiable homicide.
“Without provocation or words, Hubbell struck Miles in the face with a pistol.”
This 1882 account of a deadly confrontation at a store reflects the Wild West era of Washington Territory, where the proximity of firearms and a lack of formal policing often left disputes to be settled through immediate, lethal force. While Seattle’s modern landscape has shifted from trading posts to tech campuses, the debates over private gun use and the legal limits of 'justifiable homicide' remain a central, unresolved tension in American civic life.
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