A Razor, a Fist, and a Wife's Plea for Divorce
Emma L. McKenzie told a Seattle court that her husband threatened to kill her with a razor and beat her in front of their 7-year-old son.
A razor in the hands of an infuriated husband intent on making himself a widower is the cause alleged for divorce in an action brought yesterday by Emma L. McKenzie against Andrew P. McKenzie.
The wife says he has not only failed to support her and used indecent and insulting language in the presence of their 7-year-old boy and her mother, but on different occasions has struck, beaten and wounded her. One day, she charges, he threatened to kill her and drew the razor for that purpose, and she escaped only after severe injury from blows on the head from his clenched fist.
The McKenzies were married at St. James, Colo., July 26, 1890. The wife asks for the custody of their son, Robert Emmet McKenzie.
“One day, she charges, he threatened to kill her and drew the razor for that purpose.”
Domestic-violence allegations were folded into divorce filings long before courts had modern protective orders or shelters. Emma McKenzie's 1899 suit is a reminder that the language of “cruelty” in old divorce records often encodes real danger — and that custody fights have always been part of that story.
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