A Drunken Stabbing—and a Churchgoer Shot Without Cause
On one violent Sunday, a wife stabbed her husband through the heart, and a young man shot a girl on her way to church before turning the gun on himself.
On Sunday last at Utsalady, Luke McCormack was stabbed through the heart by his wife—both drunk. Same place and day, a Miss Mary was going to church when a young man named Mattison stepped up behind her and shot her in the shoulder, but fortunately caused only a slight flesh wound. Immediately after he turned the weapon on himself and lodged a ball in his own breast, which also was not fatal. No cause assigned.
“No cause assigned.”
Domestic violence and public shootings are still reported with the same numbing shorthand, though today we would ask about motive, alcohol, and access to firearms. The item also shows how casually the era's press could stack two tragedies in a single paragraph.
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