A Revolver in the Marriage: Minnie Ober's Divorce
A Seattle court grants Minnie G. Ober a divorce from Harry Ober after testimony that he threatened to shoot her and once pointed a large revolver at her.
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.
Minnie G. Ober was yesterday awarded a divorce from Harry Ober, to whom she was married May 4, 1888, the decree being signed on the grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment. Harry Ober, Jr., the only child, was awarded to the mother. Ober, it was said, was particularly inhuman to his wife during July and August, 1894, his actions being entirely without cause or justification. He threatened to shoot and kill her, and at one time brandished and pointed a large revolver at her. He also made her life miserable by unfounded charges of unchastity.
“He threatened to shoot and kill her, and at one time brandished and pointed a large revolver at her.”
In 1890s Washington, a woman seeking divorce had to put cruelty on the record, often in graphic detail, to win a decree and custody. The Ober case is a reminder that domestic violence was not a private matter even then—it became part of the public court file, and the mother kept her son.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.