Three Shots on a Palouse Sidewalk
A quiet read in a chair turns into a close-range family shooting when J. H. Hughes’s son-in-law opens fire.
Palouse, Wash., April 25.—There was a duel on the street here today between J. H. Hughes and his son-in-law, Raymond Peiffer. Three shots were fired by Peiffer and one by Hughes. Hughes was sitting in a chair on the sidewalk reading a paper. Peiffer came up and kicked him, at the same time thrusting a revolver in his face. Hughes struck down the pistol just as the hammer fell; the bullet passed through his neck. He jumped to his feet and tried to seize the revolver, but Peiffer backed away and fired another shot, the bullet entering Hughes and passing out under his shoulder blade. Hughes then ran out in the street and fired one shot, which struck a box in front of Peiffer. Neither of the men will die. Peiffer is out on bail. Hughes is in charge of a constable and confined to his bed.
“There was a duel on the street here today between J. H. Hughes and his son-in-law, Raymond Peiffer.”
The Palouse shooting is a reminder that domestic violence and firearms were not confined to big cities in the 1890s. A dispute between in-laws escalated from a sidewalk insult to near-fatal gunfire in a small Whitman County town. Today Palouse remains a quiet agricultural community, but the story echoes ongoing debates about family violence and gun safety.
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