M.J. Griffin ?-1902

GRIFFIN

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 9/23/2011 at 18:42:44

M.J. Griffin Murdered
We glean the following from the Tacoma (Wash.) Ledger, thinking it would interest our readers, especially the railroad men, who a few years ago knew Griffin when he was acting as brakeman under Al Page, of the B.C.R & N.

“M.J. Griffin, a railroad man who had but recently come to Tacoma, was killed last evening (April 29th) in front of Chapman’s pawnshop on Pacille avenue by a man known as “Big” Mike Burke. What provoked the assault is not known. The two men met on the street and after exchanging a few words, Burke knocked Griffin down and kicked him two or three times. A bystander interfered and pulled Burke away. In the crowd that gathered around the prostrate man the assailant slipped away before the arrival of the police and has not yet been arrested. Griffin the victim of the assault, was between 40 and 50 years of age, 5 feet 10 ½ inches in heighth, and weighed about 180 pounds. He was smooth shaven and had dark hair, slightly tinged with gray. The papers found on his person showed that he was a member in good standing of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, belonging to Estherville lodge No. 552,Estherville, Iowa. He had been employed as an engineer, conductor and brakeman and had worked on the Illinois Central, Denver & Rio Grande and Southern Pacific. He bore excellent recommendations from a number of superintendents.

Nothing is known of Griffin by the local railroad men and it is believed that he has been in the city but a few days. His name does not appear on the train list. Papers in his possession however, indicate that he had been working on the Palmer cut-off. He also had a meal ticket on Fisher’s restaurant, which had been purchased Sunday. Inquiring at the restaurant revealed that it had been secured on the order of Alvin Gergon, a brakeman on the Kalama branch of the Northern Pacific. Griffin had $1.52 in his pocket. (Estherville Democrat, Estherville, IA, May 9, 1902 / Evening Tribune, Estherville, IA, May 8, 1902)