A Deadly Dispute Over the Price of a Calf
A multi-year feud in Walla Walla culminates in a brutal stabbing over a livestock transaction.
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.
As the result of a quarrel of several years' standing, Thomas Langford, a rural mail route deliverer, is lying at the point of death at Walla Walla from three knife wounds inflicted by a man named John D. Scott. Late last night the two men met in the eastern portion of the city and had a few words over the price of a calf that Scott had purchased from Langford. They engaged in a fight, in which Scott drew a large pocket knife and stabbed Langford three times. Langford is not expected to recover.
“They engaged in a fight, in which Scott drew a large pocket knife and stabbed Langford three times.”
While rural feuds over property or livestock may seem like a relic of the past, the intensity of conflict over small-scale commerce remains a staple of neighborhood disputes. This incident highlights how personal grievances in tightly-knit communities could easily escalate into life-altering violence.
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