A Woman Alone on a Timber Claim Is Struck Down by a Hidden Assailant
Jean Chance is left unconscious for ten hours after stones hit her head and shoulder near Camden, and deputies suspect the land dispute behind it.
Miss Jean Chance, who with her brother has been living on a claim near Camden, was the victim of a cowardly assault Monday night. She and her brother have been contesting the previous claimant of the property, who had gotten into trouble with the government over the cutting of timber from the land.
Miss Chance was at home alone that evening, her brother having gone to Newport. In the evening she thought she heard him returning and went out into the yard to meet him. Almost instantly she was felled to the ground by a heavy stone which struck her in the back of the head, and another struck her in the shoulder. She was able to get back into the house, where she lay unconscious for 10 hours before assistance reached her. The wound on her head is serious and necessitated her being taken to a Spokane hospital for treatment.
Deputy Sheriff George Hynes and Ed Long were at Camden Wednesday investigating the affair, and Sheriff Graham is coming. They have good grounds for suspecting certain parties and arrests are likely to occur.
“Almost instantly she was felled to the ground by a heavy stone which struck her in the back of the head, and another struck her in the shoulder.”
The assault grew out of a contested claim and a fight over timber, showing how quickly rural land disputes could turn violent when the nearest help was hours away. Modern Pend Oreille County still has isolated properties and boundary conflicts, though now deputies and courts are expected to settle them before someone is left unconscious on a porch. The story is also a reminder of how often violence against women living alone was treated as a local curiosity rather than a public emergency.
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