The Widow’s Revenge at the Buzzard Saloon
A young boarding house proprietor storms a local saloon to confront her lover at gunpoint after a broken promise of marriage.
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.
Spokane Falls, Wash., March 12.—Mrs. Rose Smith, a young widow who is the proprietress of a lodging house, created a sensation here last night. She walked into the Buzzard saloon, and, drawing a pretty gold-mounted pistol, threatened to shoot out the place. No one dared approach her until the police were called in. When the weapon was taken from her, the woman broke down and refused to give satisfaction when called on for an explanation. It has since been discovered that she had a lover who was a bartender, and it is claimed that he seduced her under promise of marriage. Meeting him later, she stabbed him with a penknife in three places before it could be taken away.
“She walked into the Buzzard saloon, and, drawing a pretty gold-mounted pistol, threatened to shoot out the place.”
This violent confrontation speaks to the extreme social vulnerability of women in the 1890s, where 'broken promises' of marriage often resulted in severe economic and social ruin. While the Buzzard Saloon is long gone, the story reflects the era's volatile frontier justice, where public, armed disputes were the only way to seek redress for personal betrayal.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.