Courtroom Chaos After Secret Marriage Ends in Gunfire
A mother's desperate attempt to retrieve her teenage daughter from a clandestine marriage leads to a dramatic shooting in the heart of Seattle's legal district.
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.
Mrs. Annie Kohney, proprietress of the European House, shot and wounded James Haider in Justice Von Tobel's courtroom yesterday. The incident occurred following the acquittal of Haider and a friend on perjury charges related to procuring a marriage license for Kohney’s 14-year-old daughter, Hattie May Barnum. After the judge dismissed the case, Haider attempted to claim his bride, prompting Mrs. Kohney to draw a revolver and fire. The bullet struck Haider in the wrist as bystanders intervened. Hattie, who had been placed in the House of the Good Shepherd, had previously written to her mother expressing remorse for the elopement, calling it a 'coaxed' marriage. Mrs. Kohney was arrested and released on bond, while Haider was treated at the police station for his wounds. The courtroom was left in a state of wild panic and confusion.
“I will die for my child, and I would kill that man before I would have him lure my daughter to ruin.”
This violent episode highlights the extreme social and legal volatility regarding age-of-consent and marriage laws in the 1890s. The 'People's Theater' area near Washington Street was then a center of vice and nightlife, and the story illustrates the thin line between public legal procedure and personal retribution in the growing city.
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