Matrimonial Tangle at West Seattle
A physical altercation erupts in West Seattle when two men, a Tulalip man and a Vancouver miner, both claim the same woman as their wife.
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.
Tyee Peter, a Tulalip man, made a complaint yesterday morning against Daniel Conroy, a Vancouver miner now operating a fish market on lower Washington street, charging him with assault and battery. Peter alleged he went to Conroy's house in West Seattle and had his head punched for speaking to Conroy's female companion. Conroy and Peter each swear the woman, who is an Indigenous person, is his wife. After the assault, Peter returned later to take the woman away; she is now believed to be at his ranch on the Duwamish. Conroy claims they were married in Vancouver two years ago, while Peter asserts she became his wife by an Indigenous ceremony about six months ago.
“Conroy and Peter each swear that the woman, who is an Indian, is his wife.”
This domestic dispute, involving conflicting cultural interpretations of marriage and property, plays out in a West Seattle that was then just beginning to be settled. Today, the legal and social framework around domestic disputes is vastly more complex, though the underlying struggle over relationships and autonomy remains.
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