Tragedy at the Shooting Range: A Seattle Volunteer’s Fatal Mistake
While marking targets at a North Seattle range, a local volunteer is accidentally shot and killed by a fellow citizen, leaving a community and a young marksman in mourning.
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.
Sunday afternoon, a number of members of our local military companies went out to the range in the northern suburbs of the city to do some target shooting. Charles K. Robb, a member of Company D, was acting as target marker for some parties who were shooting at the 100-yard range. By an unfortunate combination of circumstances, he stepped directly in front of the target to mark a shot just as W. H. McFadden fired at the bull’s-eye. The bullet pierced him, and he fell to the ground. Colleagues rushed to him and found him bleeding. Drs. Dawson and P. B. M. Miller were summoned to attend the wounded man, who was taken to a private residence near Bell’s Hotel. A consultation determined the wound was mortal. Robb requested his wife, then in Tacoma, be sent for. As the sun disappeared behind the Western hills, his spirit took its flight. The deceased was about 30 years of age, a painter by trade, and leaves a wife and two orphan children. He was a member of Queen City Lodge No. 10, K. of P., and an Odd Fellow. W. H. McFadden, the young man who fired the fatal shot, is also bowed down with grief that cannot be appeased.
“By an unfortunate combination of circumstances, he stepped directly in front of the target to mark a shot just as W. H. McFadden fired at the bull’s-eye.”
Accidental deaths on shooting ranges remain a tragic, recurring feature of gun culture in Washington. This 1884 report captures a moment of civic shock that reflects how Seattle's small, tight-knit volunteer organizations functioned as a social safety net—and a source of collective trauma—in the city’s early days.
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