The Union Hall

July 17, 2011

This was the site of the Pastime Pool Hall where Al McKean was killed.

If I am not mistaken, I believe Henry McCleary's desk now resides in this building, a fact that no doubt would've really bugged that old union buster.

Somewhere around this spot was also the gate to the Jake Anderson place before Henry McCleary arrived. Jake, a cranky Norwegian bachelor, lived at what is now the top of the "T" at 5th and Oak.

Al McKean, 1879-1926

July 17, 2011

The crypt of Al McKean, Fern Hill Cemetery, Aberdeen.

McKean was a popular figure in McCleary. He ran the Pastime Pool Hall, where the present Union Hall sits. The original Pastime building was torn down in the summer of 1986.

McKean was shot and killed when he surprised a burglar while returning to the Pool Hall after hours. Henry McCleary spared no expense in helping law enforcement track down the killer.  When they finally arrested the likely killer and threw him in the Grays Harbor County jail, he refused to talk.

The story goes that McKean's twin brother was made up to look like a ghost and would silently stare at the superstitious prisoner through the bars at night. This method extracted the needed confession.

The entire episode earned an article in a sensationalist crime story tabloid, Real Detective in Jan. 1937 entitled "The Jungle Buzzard and the Ghost of Al McKean."