A Husband Steps Off the Streetcar and Fires
Luke Miley had been separated from his wife for two years. On a Seattle street he spotted her walking with another man and their young son — and shot the man in the head.
SEATTLE, Wash., May 8.—Luke E. Miley, an architectural engineer, leaped from a streetcar this afternoon, and rushing to the curb fired a bullet from an automatic revolver through the head of E. A. Morrison, a tile fitter, who was walking in company with Miley's wife and 6-year-old son. Miley and his wife separated two years ago. Morrison was taken to a hospital. His condition is critical.
“Miley and his wife separated two years ago. Morrison was taken to a hospital. His condition is critical.”
A century later, domestic violence remains one of the most common and least-covered forms of lethal violence in Washington — and the 'crime of passion' framing that once excused it has only slowly given way to treating it as the public safety crisis it is. The streetcar, the automatic pistol, and the estranged husband are period details; the shape of the story is not.
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