Rail service came across the Columbia River in 1908. Ridgefield had the advantage of being on the river and now train service ran through it. A train station was built so travelers could have a dry and warm place to wait for the train.E. M. (Merrill) Fuller, a 19-year-old night operator of Ridgefield Train Station, was arrested for shooting, J. (John) H. Stewart, a middle-aged freight train conductor, in the station office on Thursday, June 30, 1910 at about 4:10 a.m. The cause of the shooting was an argument between Fuller and Stewart over when the train was going to leave the station for Kalama, Washington.
Stewart allegedly slapped Fuller a few times and started to walk out of the office. When he reached the door Fuller came up behind him, turned him around, and placing a .32 caliber revolver against his heart fired a single shot. Stewart staggered some 15 feet and fell speaking these words, “My God, I am shot.”
There were two eye witnesses to the shooting and the death of Stewart: T.E. Alexander and S.B. Thomas of Stewart’s train crew. These men pounced upon Fuller and took the revolver from him.
"What have I done?" was the question that Fuller asked after he was disarmed. Fuller immediately locked himself in the office and wired to the head office in Tacoma, to his parents in South Bend, and to the sheriff. He made no attempt to escape.
Fuller made the statement to officers than Stewart had been picking on him for some time and that he meant only to shoot him in the leg to show him be would not be imposed upon. However the two eye witnesses testified that Stewart did not strike Fuller. They also testified that the two men were engaged in a scuffle when the shot was fired.
The suspect was taken into custody by Sheriff Sappington and Deputy Sheriff George Johnson, who had commandeered an automobile and drove up to the scene. Fuller readily admitted shooting Stewart but claimed it was a case of self-defense. He was charged with murder in the first degree. He was released three months later when he was found not guilty by a jury.
Some people have seen a ghostly light on the tracks, resembling a lantern being swung at the station to signal the early morning train -- a train that no longer stops at the Ridgefield Train Station that no longer exists.
The Ridgefield Train Station was torn down a few years ago. Vandalism took its toll. All that remains is the mustard yellow building housing the controls at the foot of Depot Street.
Source of information: Clarke County Sheriff's Office, Register of Prisoners (Vol. 1A), p. 125, "The Daily Columbian" newspaper, June 30, 1910 and July 1 & 2, 1910, "History of the Office" by Inspector David McKay, and "Darkness Next Door" by Pat Jollota.