It

Mike writes that he is very drunk. He is going to write about “Claude Heroux and the Silver Dollar” (897), a “beerjoint” (900). In 1905 the Silver Dollar was the site of what Mike call the one of the strangest mass murders in American history. He heard the story from a man named Herbert Thoroughgood.

In the spring of 1905, some lumbermen talked about starting a union. One of them was Heroux. After a successful strike, a man named Davey Hartwell and three others spent the night drinking in bars, and then in the Brentwood Arms Hotel. They are all found murdered the next day, each with a note with the word UNION on it. Heroux begins talking about revenge on the rare occasions when he comes into town but spends most of his time in the woods alone. All summer there were fires in the woods, and most people believed Heroux was setting them.

On September 9th, dozens of men were eating and drinking in the Silver Dollar when Heroux arrived with an axe. After two drinks, he went to a card table and “started cutting” (902). He kills several men, but people continue drinking at the bar as if it is not happening.