A Wife's Last Resort: Abused Woman Kills Husband in Kittitas County
After years of beatings, a Roslyn rancher's wife shoots him dead; neighbors say it was justified.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
ROSLYN, Aug. 27. [Special.] John Whacker, a rancher, residing three miles north of here, was shot and instantly killed by his wife at 7 o'clock this morning. The shooting was aggravated, and the wife in public opinion, was justified in her action. The murdered man was 35 years of age and his wife about 30 years old. They had been married about six years and had two children. About three years ago, when the first child was 1 year old, Mrs. Whacker was compelled by her husband to return to her parents in Europe, who are reported to be wealthy. She remained there about one year, when a longing for her child impelled her to return to this country. Whacker, it seems, bore no love for his wife, and after her return he began to abuse and ill treat her, being dissipated in habits. He frequently went home under the influence of liquor and scandalously mistreated her. On Tuesday he imbibed freely and continued his debauch until Wednesday morning, when he went home, threw his wife out of doors after blacking her eyes, and locked the door on her. She remained hid in the woods until Saturday morning, when solicitude for a 4-months-old infant and her other child prompted a return to the house. Her husband knocked her down with a chair, and then ran from the room. He shortly returned and resumed his attack, when Mrs. Whacker seized a shotgun and sent a charge through his head. Whacker owned a good ranch, and was moderately thrifty.
“The shooting was aggravated, and the wife in public opinion, was justified in her action.”
Domestic violence was rarely prosecuted in the 1890s, and a woman's self-defense claim was only as good as public sympathy. Today, Washington state has some of the nation's strongest DV protections, but the case echoes in debates over how we treat survivors who fight back.
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