A Violent Pursuit of a Divorced Wife
An ex-convict recently released from the Walla Walla penitentiary tracks his former wife to Seattle and shoots her five times.
Ike Horsell, an ex-convict who was liberated from the Walla Walla penitentiary on November 23, shot his divorced wife, Jessie Horsell, five times in Seattle on Monday night and escaped. The woman, suffering from five gunshot wounds, crawled along the sidewalk to her doorstep. Horsell had served two years in the Walla Walla penitentiary for previously assaulting her. While he was incarcerated, Mrs. Horsell secured a divorce and sought safety with a friend. Upon his release, Horsell began sending threatening notes and stalked his former wife until the attack on Monday evening. At last report, the assailant remained at large.
“The woman, with five wounds in her body, crawled along the wet and slushy walk to her doorstep, where her small strength gave out entirely.”
This tragic report highlights the historical intersection of the Walla Walla penal system with wider patterns of domestic violence. Such stories were often printed with brutal, detached detail in the early 20th century.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.