A Family Tragedy Near Palouse
Tragic news emerges from a local farm where a man took his family's lives before turning a weapon on himself.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Reports from Dayton indicate that a shocking discovery was made at the farm of R. D. Johnson, a well-known farmer. Neighbors forced an entry and found the dead bodies of Johnson, his wife, and his boy. Two little girls were also found shot in the head, but still alive. It appears Johnson had lived deeply in debt. Johnson appeared to have poisoned his children first and afterwards shot them. A bullet was found in his own head as well. The little girl, when asked who did the murder, said her father had hit them with a stick in his rage; she also said her father had given them all lemonade.
“The little girl, when asked who did the murder, said her father had hit them with a stick in his rage.”
Domestic tragedies of this nature were frequently reported in late 19th-century regional newspapers with raw, unvarnished detail. Today, these events are treated with far greater sensitivity and focus on the systemic struggles and mental health crises that often underlie them, rather than the lurid curiosity of the past.
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