Ear: Shot

The wild west was alive and well in Astoria with The Daily Morning Astorian, Jan. 9, 1888 headline: “Shot on the street.”

The night before, the sound of a gunshot rang out on the corner of Benton and Concomly streets (now Eighth and Astor), and passersby saw a man fall face-first onto the sidewalk. The man, known as Scotty MacDonald, a runner for notorious shanghaier James Turk, was carried directly into Alex Gilbert’s saloon.

Only one shot was fired, which hit MacDonald near his navel. He was loaded onto a door, with a pillow under his head, and carried to the hospital, several blocks away. Doctors quickly found and removed the ball, which wound up just under the skin of his right hip.

Despite being in a good deal of pain, MacDonald managed to identify Charles Herbert, a saloon proprietor, as the man who shot him. Herbert owed MacDonald $2.50 (about $83 today), and when MacDonald asked for the money, “Herbert pulled out a revolver and let him have it.”

Herbert was quickly arrested and taken to the city jail, where he was searched. No gun was found, and he was moved to the county jail. He admitted shooting MacDonald, then tossing the gun onto a lumber pile.

MacDonald, meanwhile, was “dozing and seemed to experience little inconvenience.” His chances for survival “seem to be decidedly favorable to his recovery.” (Photo: Clatsop County Historical Society)