Three Orphans and a Grave for Two: The Bratton Tragedy in Tacoma
Isaac H. Bratton killed his wife and then himself; within days a court appointed an administrator and a family friend sought guardianship of the couple's three children.
Tacoma, Jan. 22.—Special.—Edwin J. McNawley was appointed special administrator of the estate of Isaac H. Bratton, who killed his wife and then shot himself Saturday. A petition was filed by J. T. Bibb, traveling agent of the Northern Pacific Elevator Company, asking to be appointed guardian for the three children, who were made orphans by this tragedy. Accompanying the petition was a telegram from P. A. Bratton, of Montgomery, Mo., the uncle of the children, asking him to take charge of everything and send the children and clothes to him. The Brattons will be buried tomorrow, side by side, in the same grave, under the auspices of the Maccabees.
“The Brattons will be buried tomorrow, side by side, in the same grave, under the auspices of the Maccabees.”
The Bratton case is the kind of private catastrophe that papers of the 1890s covered in a few stark lines: a murder-suicide, a probate filing, a telegram from a relative, and three children passed into guardianship. Modern courts still perform the same grim work after family violence—appointing administrators, sorting custody, and trying to place children with kin. The difference is that we now talk about domestic violence as a public problem, not just a family shame.
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