Greek and Italian Christmas Party at Woodside, Utah

It was a really a brawl rather than a party that Christmas Day in 1901 at Woodside, but party sounds better.  I'm still not sure if the Italians were cowboys or railroad workers.  I'm not even sure who won the fight/brawl.  The Italians supposedly got the worst of it but the Greeks left the country.  Here is a bunch of newspaper articles telling the story.  I have tried to keep them in chronological order.  The first one actually quotes a newspaper article but is in the history of Emery County. 

     "Poker Pete" Olsen's saloon in Woodside was the scene of a wild brawl on Chrismas Day 1901 between the local cowboys and a group of Greek railroad workers.
Edward A Geary, A History of Emery County, p. 157.

     Several Greek and Italian laborers for the Rio Grande Western Railroad Company came together in a drunken brawl at Woodside yesterday.  The result was that four Italians are pretty badly done up, while the country is rid of its Greek population, the latter hitting the trail, not even waiting for a train. 
Eastern Utah Advocate
December 26, 1901

     Poker Pete Olsen has taken out a saloon  license for his Woodside place of business dating back to December 14th.  The last named period will cover the date of the recent cowboy episode at that point when high jinks were indulged in and a regular old frontier day time experienced. 
Emery County Progress
January 4, 1902
And Eastern Utah Advocate
January 16, 1902

     A very disgraceful affair occurred xmas day which ended in all but a killing of some boys who were holding kangaroo court at Poker Pete's.  A band of Greeks encouraged by the bartender made deadly assault upon the boys with guns and knives ending luckily with nothing worse than a sore head or two and some slight knife cuts.  Some of our self respecting citizens are wondering why the county officials don't take recognizance of the vile doings here.  __A Citizen
Emery County Progress
January 11, 1902

     Woodside and Castle Dale are running a neck and neck race at present for the honor of being the toughest town in Emery County.  Everything goes in both places.
     . . .
     Sheriff Tuttle returned from Woodside early in the week where he spent a few days investigating the Christmas Day racket.  He learned a whole lot but found it difficult to get such information as would secure a conviction against the offending parties.  Most of the citizens are bitter against the Greek railroad element.  An attempt was made to burn Poker Pete's saloon Christmas night by some parties presumably indignant citizens.  The door was broken open and a beer case filled with inflammable matter was set fire to under the bar.  The fire was discovered by the proprietor and Scott Miller who were up at the store about 40 rods west in time to extinguish it before any damage was done.  This was between 9 and 10 o'clock Christmas night.  There had been a racket in the place earlier in the evening and someone shot a hole through the stove pipe. 
Emery County Progress
January 11, 1902

     Sheriff Tuttle has been down at Woodside investigating the troubles there between the Greek and Italians laborers on Christmas day.  He confesses to know but little if any more than before he made the trip.  There have been no arrests..
Eastern Utah Advocate
January 16, 1902

There is also another article which had a few words that I could not make out that I posted on an earlier blog post. Check out the post of May 16 and look at the first article in the post.

Grandfather Comparison.

Apparently Mondays and Tuesdays are not good days for me to post blogs.  I must be too busy on those days.  I had hoped to have already posted this. 

This looks like a brief comparison on the surface but really these were different men.  My desire is not to be judgemental of either man.  They were just different. 

Nicholas was born in England. 
Dode was born in America. 

In a way Nicholas was  a pioneer.
Dode was of Utah pioneer ancestry. 

Nicholas was a convert to the LDS Church. 
Dode was a nonmember despite his pioneer heritage. 
Dode and his father certainly pioneered around Woodside.

Nicholas lived in the city. 
Dode at times lived in the city but was comfortable and at home on the desert. 

Nicholas had a certificate which helped him do clerical work. 
Dode went to school but any specific training is unknown or non-existent. 

Nicholas was comfortable in a suit and tie. 
I believe Dode usually work Levis that were cuffed on the bottom. 

Nicholas apparently traveled a bit of the world. 
I don't know that Dode went far from Emery County. 

Nicholas spent nearly his entire life working.  He worked til 80 years of age. 
Dode worked at times but apparently did a lot of prospecting. 
Looking at the records in Emery County almost provides a diary of Dode. 

Despite all these differences they both worked for the railroad at least briefly.