The Fatal Price of a Hidden Life
A Spokane man shoots his wife for running a lodging house, a tragic climax to their long-standing conflict over her livelihood.
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.
George Woods, colored, shot and fatally wounded his wife, Lena Woods, at the latter's rooms on Front Street tonight. After the shooting, Woods made his escape, but was subsequently captured on Park Street. For some time, Mrs. Woods had been keeping a lodging house, with occupants largely composed of colored women. Woods had repeatedly tried to get her to quit the business, and as she refused, he concluded to kill her. He entered her room tonight, closed the door, and five shots were fired in rapid succession. Mrs. Woods was found lying across a chair with fatal wounds. Woods has a history of violence, having previously shot a man a year ago over jealousy regarding his wife.
“Woods had tried to get her to quit the business and as she repeatedly refused to do so he concluded to kill her.”
This incident exposes the dangerous intersection of domestic violence and the criminalization of marginalized livelihoods in 1893. Spokane’s historic Front Street, once a center for the city’s red-light district and lodging houses, has long since been transformed into a commercial and recreational hub, but the patterns of intimate partner violence and the policing of women's work remain persistent challenges.
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