The Cedar River Standoff
A booze-fueled construction argument at the Black Diamond coal mines turned into an armed pursuit through the woods.
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.
The particulars of a shooting scrape at the Black Diamond coal mines reached Seattle on Sunday. Thomas Mahr, employed as a damper at the mines, had been on a spree for several days. Saturday evening, he fell in with Thomas Comer, a section boss on the Cedar River extension, and the two men lashed up pretty freely on China gin. Finally, the subject of railroad construction came up, and the two men disagreed on some point in regard to the best way to build a certain piece of track. They finally quarreled and called each other hard names, but took another drink or two of gin and apparently parted good friends.
On Sunday, Comer took his section gang to work on the track as usual. During the forenoon, Mahr, who was still drinking, came along and attempted to renew the quarrel of the previous evening. He called Comer hard names and finally drew a knife on him. Comer defended himself with a shovel and his assailant went off. An hour later, Comer and three of his men had gone to their tent, and while sitting there, Mahr walked in with a drawn revolver and fired two shots at Comer. Comer rushed out of the tent, followed by his assailant who fired two more shots, one of which took effect in Comer’s left thigh. Deputy Sheriff K. Goldworthy intercepted Mahr and took his shooting iron from him, and telegraphed the fact to Sheriff McGraw. Mr. Milner was also notified and sent a special set over the road to bring the wounded man and his would-be killer to town. On their arrival here, the wounded man was sent to Providence Hospital and Mahr was put in jail.
“The two men lashed up pretty freely on China gin.”
A conflict over rail construction and workplace grievances at a remote labor camp in 1885 mirrors the ongoing tension between rapid industrial development and worker welfare in the Pacific Northwest. Today, this stretch of the Cedar River is better known for its role in Seattle's water supply, but it remains a site where the echoes of labor struggles and land use continue to intersect.
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