Domestic Violence Sentence at Police Court
A man was jailed for 33 days after being caught beating his wife with a club in a public disturbance.
Henry Marsh, an Indian, who was arrested Thursday night for wife-beating, was given the maximum fine of $100 and costs by Police Judge Arntson. Marsh was intoxicated at the time of the assault, and bystanders pulled him away from his wife, whom he was beating with a heavy club. As he could not pay the fine, the judge remanded him to the county jail to serve out the 33 days.
“Bystanders pulled him away from his wife, whom he was beating with a heavy club.”
Historical reporting often framed domestic violence as a matter of 'intoxication' or local nuisance, masking the systemic nature of abuse. This case reflects the rigid and often punitive nature of municipal justice in early 20th-century Tacoma.
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