A Point-Blank Escape
Ida Witikka wins divorce after husband attempts to kill her with a revolver on the Fourth of July.
Ida Witikka was today granted a divorce from Alba Witikka on the grounds of cruelty and abuse. Judge Shackleford granted the decree. In her complaint, Mrs. Witikka stated that on the Fourth of July, 1908, her husband pointed a revolver at her with the words, 'I'll kill you,' and pulled the trigger. The cartridge failed to explode, thus saving the woman's life.
“I'll kill you.”
Domestic violence was often framed strictly as 'cruelty' in early 20th-century divorce filings, a legal requirement for dissolving a marriage that frequently hid the severity of life-threatening abuse. Today, the 1909 court proceedings in Tacoma highlight how difficult it was for women to seek protection and autonomy from abusive spouses without such dramatic, near-fatal evidence.
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