The Captain, the Stowaway, and the Revolver
A confrontation on a Puget Sound steamer between a captain and an armed traveler reveals the wild and precarious nature of local maritime transport in 1886.
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.
Captain Benjamin of the steamer 'Hustler' provided a statement regarding an attempt on his life by a man named James, who was traveling about the Sound selling organs. Captain Benjamin boarded the steamer at Anacortes, bound for Orcas Island. During the night, he discovered a man had occupied a berth without payment. When confronted, James claimed he had only pulled down the covers but not slept there, which the Captain knew to be a falsehood, recalling previous encounters where James had insulted the 'Hustler' and its crew. When the Captain demanded payment, James drew a revolver and fired. The ball missed the Captain by two inches, leaving powder burns on his face. Behind the Captain were five other passengers. After firing, James handed over the half dollar. The Captain chose not to retaliate, stating: 'I concluded that two wrongs never make one right.' James eventually made his way to Port Townsend and then to Portland, having fled in fear after the shooting.
“My first impulse was to take his revolver from him and give him a good beating, but I kept my temper, and concluding that two wrongs never make one right, I did not disturb him.”
In 1886, Puget Sound was a frontier water highway where interpersonal conflicts and debt enforcement often escalated to violence. The 'Hustler' incident highlights the informality of travel that defined early Seattle commerce—a stark contrast to the highly regulated ferry systems of modern Washington, yet familiar in the persistent, rugged independence of the region’s maritime culture.
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