The notorious “Russian Mike”

In San Diego’s notorious Stingaree district of the 1890s, liquor and violence flowed freely in dozens of saloons south of H Street (Market). One of the more disreputable dives was the Pacific Squadron Saloon on the corner of 4^th and J streets, where a homicide involving alcohol, a cheap gun, and a character named Russian Mike, drew rapt attention from San Diegans in the spring of 1899. Read the story of Russian Mike.