February 4, 1862 -- The Bar Tender and the Widow

February 4, 1862 -- A man named Frederick Kuntz is arrested for shooting his wife. The Chicago Daily Tribune's coverage of the unfortunate event makes me wish that newspapers could return to this style. The article reads, "Kuntz was formerly a bar-tender in the employ of one William Veitz, who kept a saloon on Wells street, between Washington and Madison streets. In the course of time Veitz died, and the bar-tender married the widow, after she had sported her weeds a sufficient length of time, and succeeded to the charge of the saloon. The honeymoon was brief, for business is business and time is fleeting. Scarcely had it waned ere trouble commenced. The bar-tender manifested an affinity for other widows, and the widow for other bar-tenders. Criminations and recriminations followed, and the spirit of jealousy was aroused upon each side. On Sunday it culminated in a violent quarrel, during which Kuntz drew a revolver and discharged three barrels at her, the contents of the third taking effect in her side and inflicting a dangerous, and if inflammation sets in, a mortal wound." The bar-tender manifested an affinity for other widows, and the widow for other bar-tenders . . . you HAVE to love that kind of reporting!