A Nine-Year-Old Kills a Walla Walla Merchant's Son
A child's quarrel in Walla Walla ends with Charles Rose shot dead and another nine-year-old in the county jail.
Walla Walla, Feb. 22.—Special.—At 2 o'clock today Charles Rose, the 9-year-old son of T. L. Rose, a merchant of this city, was shot in the head and killed by Arthur, a 9-year-old boy. He used a small-caliber rifle. Various versions are given as to the boy's intention. He says he shot accidentally, but a companion says he had threatened Rose several times during the morning. The boy bears a bad reputation. He is in the county jail and will have a hearing tomorrow.
“He says he shot accidentally, but a companion says he had threatened Rose several times during the morning.”
A child with a gun killing another child is not a new American story, and this 1890s item has the same raw elements: access to a firearm, a morning of threats, and a town trying to explain a killing by a child. The paper's quick talk of a 'bad reputation' also shows how early a community begins to write a permanent story about a young person.
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