The story of Nathan “Tex” Bagwell has all the angles of a memorable tale: a likeable and lucky gambler, a mysterious woman, a murder and lingering questions.
Bagwell was shot early on June 18, 1894, in North Yakima. Robbery wasn’t a motive; he still wore two diamond rings and other jewelry and carried $38.50 in cash and a loaded gun. Philemene Brassard, the Canadian woman who claimed to be his wife (though she wasn’t), hired someone to murder Bagwell but was never convicted.
So what was the real motive for his murder? And why was such a wealthy man buried in a pauper’s grave at Tahoma Cemetery?
Ellen Allmendinger learned more about Bagwell in researching her new book, “Murder & Mayhem in Central Washington.” Several people, including Brassard, were jailed following Bagwell’s premeditated murder after he left the Shardlow & McDaniels Saloon on the southeast corner of East Yakima Avenue and Front Street. Bagwell was shot in the back about 100 feet from his home on South First Street and died soon after, according to Allmendinger’s book.
“They jailed her and everybody for trial. She never actually went to trial,” Allmendinger said of Brassard, a mother of two young daughters from a previous relationship. Witness testimony and pleas changed in the aftermath.
Many considered Bagwell an honest gambler and mourned his death, Allmendinger said of the Texas native who came from a town named for his successful farming family. “Everybody liked him. He was a nice guy.”
Bagwell’s story is among several historic crime cases from Yakima, Kittitas and Benton counties highlighted in Allmendinger’s book. She chose older cases that riveted the public as they unfolded but have been forgotten by most. They include the slaying of a popular doctor in Roslyn, the fatal and near-fatal beatings of a husband and wife near the long-gone town of Alfalfa, and a shootout in Kennewick on Halloween 1906.
“Murder & Mayhem in Central Washington” is Allmendinger’s second book. Some of the information in her first book, “Hidden History of Yakima,” came from the free history tours she has led in downtown Yakima. The tours didn’t happen in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and remain on hold this year.
Allmendinger has also led history tours of Tahoma, which comes in handy when trying to find graves like Bagwell’s. The simple brick-sized piece of concrete almost swallowed by the turf is challenging to locate on the 55-acre grounds of the cemetery at 1802 Tahoma Ave.
More than than 47,000 people are buried or entombed at Tahoma, which was established in 1889. They include another man featured in Allmendinger’s book, George Franklin Dymond.
Dymond, who died in 1955, is buried under a plain grave marker with only his name and year of death. He was the oldest in the Dymond Brothers Gang, which also included Clifford, Darrel and baby brother Floyd Dymond. Their criminal careers – which included stealing horses, robbery, prison escapes and murder spanning the early 1900s into the 1940s – began as each left their parents’ homestead outside Zillah.
George ended up in California; after being released from prison there, he returned to the Yakima Valley. “After all the ruckus, George and a sister moved to the Selah/Yakima area. George died in Selah in 1955,” Allmendinger said.
Their parents, Robert and Minerva Dymond, are buried in the Zillah cemetery. It’s important to remember that only four of their 10 children were convicted of crimes, Allmendinger wrote in her book. “The remaining six children should not be thought of as guilty simply because of their family association, nor should the generations of the Dymonds who followed,” reads a note on Page 99.
Allmendinger loves talking about local history, and though she doesn’t plan on downtown tours this year, she hopes to lead them at Tahoma Cemetery. Yakima County is in Phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan and will move to Phase 3 with the rest of Washington on Monday.
With that, Tahoma should be able to host small groups outside with masks and social distancing, said Ken Wilkinson, parks and recreation manager for the city of Yakima.
“She has to be that much more vocal, especially if it’s windy,” Wilkinson said. “We would really like to have them in person if allowed in the next phase. If she’s willing, we’re willing.”
If tours take place, registration will be available later at https://yakimaparks.com. People also can watch the Tahoma history tours on the city’s YouTube channel. Sean Lee Davido of the city’s community relations office shot a series of videos with Allmendinger.
Since retiring from the county on Feb. 25, Allmendinger has more time to volunteer at the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society research library. And write more books.
“I’ve got another book that’s 80% done about Civil War vets who came out here after the war,” she said, noting that the town of Gleed was founded by a veteran. “I really want to get that one out.”
