The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1913-06-27
DIED BY HIS OWN HAND
AFTER HAVING STOOD OFF THE
OFFICERS AND POSSE FOR
SEVENTEEN HOURS
END OF THE ETHEL TRAGEDY
A Sad and Shocking Chapter In the
Criminal Annals Of OkanOgan
County

When this paper went to press last
Friday reign of terror existed around
that particular locality on the north
half of the old COlville reservation
designated as the old government saw
mill, some twelve miles south and east
of Oroville, men We're bOmbarding a
residence in which fugitive from
Justice was barricaded, and the hunted
man was holding the attacking force
at respectful distance. In town
groups of men were everywhere dis
cussing the latest, and always sensa
tional, reports from the seat of war
armed men were Fastening to the
scene, attracted by the lust of blood
that Is the evidence of the animal In
the human being, and everybody was
keyed up to a high mental tension in
expectation of further sensational de-
velopments. A crazed, for out of char
ity for the unfortunate victim of his
own waywardness let us believe he
was laboring under mental aberra-
ton, and desperate man had been
driven to bay. He was standing off
at the point of a gun a number of Of
icers and large armed posse. 1t
was almost heroic, this exhibition of
nerve and fierce determination
in the face of such overwhelming odds.
1t was martyrdom to a principle he
had so often reiterated that If the
occasion should ever arise he would
die before he would surrender to the
officers of the law. He carried out
that threat. for the uncOmprOmising
defender of his own castle only gave
in when scorched by fire, and then
elected to die by his own hand before
surrendering to the constituted au-
thOrities. Ii it were not for the cir
cumstances leading up to the tragic
climax, the nerve and pluck of the
man, whose home was his funeral
pyre, might be admired. Such a fight
and final sacrifice in a better cause
would have made the criminal hero.
AS it is the event will 60 down in
the history of this county as a useless
waste of life in the most mOmentOus
incident in the criminal annals of
OkanOgan county, and will take its
place in the records of criminOlogy
with the bloody deeds and tragic end
ing of Tracy and Tethrow.
The attempted capture of j. H.
Ethel, his holding the fort for II
hours in the face of tremendous odds,
during which he wounded two of his
assailants, and his final immOlatiOn,
was the elimination of a bitter feud
that kept the country in which he lived
in turmoil for several years. 1t is
in hill countries that feuds generally
have their births, at least it Is in the
hill country where they abide the
longest and reach the limit of vindic-
tiveness. Perhaps it Is because of the
natural advantages that a broken
country holds out for cOncealment
the ease in which marked victims can
be waylaid, the almost certain immun-
ity from discovery, the avenues pre-
sented for escape that appeals to the
man nursing a grudge. Be this as
1t may it Is the localities where mount
aims exist that the vendetta and the
feud reaches its highest stage of MUIR
derOus development, and the feud that
existed around the old government
saw mill district was prolonged and
grew more serious from the nature
of the Typographical surroundings
making attacks and reprisals easy
and In large measure safe for those
engaged in this retalitory system OF
warfare.
Some seven years ago this manEthe
came to the county and located where
ne nnally gave up his life. He was
saw mill operator, and was assisted
to establish himself in business by
Bartell & Co., of this place. Ethe
was of contentious disposition. quicl
to anger and very excitable, taking
offense at the slightest provOcation
and vindictive in the extreme. He fel
out with neighbors, and his animosity
was especially directed against JOhr
Hone, rival saw mill operator IL
the same neighborhood. This dislike
was mutual, for that matter, and Mr.
Hone thought he had ample and suf
hcient reasons for his enmity tOwart
Ethel. From the ruck of rumOr ant
prejudicial report 1t would be i'm
possible to winnow out the exact fact
relative to the prolonged feud re
sponsible for the fatal ending. Their
are always two sides to a story, ant
Ethel may have been as much sin
ned against as SHINING. Men testif
to his general character very mucl
as their leaning in the prOtracted con
tention, for people took sides as i
natural in long continued neighbor
hood controversy. Some who hav
mad dealings with Ethel speak of hin
with kindness, although all testify t.