The next day, Alice made up her mind that, if Robert started abusing her again, she was going to do something about it, and she armed herself with a .32 caliber pistol. Wrapping the weapon in paper, she walked downtown carrying the pistol in her hand. She met her husband on College Street just west of the public square, and they started west together on College. Alice learned that Robert had quit his job and drawn all his pay, as he'd threatened, and the couple almost immediately started arguing over his refusal to turn over any of the money to Alice. Robert became more and more abusive as they went along, calling her vile names. As they passed Market Street, he noticed her carrying something in her hand and demanded to know what it was. She told him he'd find out soon enough. When they neared Main Street, he cursed her and struck her in the face. Alice took a step back, unwrapped the pistol, and fired two shots. One passed through Robert's coat without injuring him, but the other struck him in the hip. Still on his feet, he and Alice began wrestling over the pistol. Two firemen standing nearby then stepped in and disarmed the young woman. Decrying her husband's abuse, Alice beseeched the firemen to let her finish him off, but they instead called to a nearby police officer, who took Alice into custody.
Later on the evening of the 25th, a Springfield Republican reporter visited Alice in the calaboose. She told the newsman: "We have been married now for three years and how I have ever stood his abuse as long as I have I don't know. Why I have worked and done everything for that man, and a suit of clothes that I bought with money that I made by sewing he sold yesterday. Wednesday night he threatened to kill me and struck me several times.
"Yesterday," she continued, "I just got a revolver and thought that if he attempted anything of that kind I would take part in it myself. I carried my revolver in my hand, but hardly expected to meet him. When I did, he was in his usual condition. I asked him for money that he drew and he struck me. Stepping behind him, I fired twice, and am sorry that I did not kill him. And I swear I will," she concluded, "if I ever get a chance," even if she hanged for it.
After listening to Alice's story, the reporter opined that, because of all the cruelties she had endured, the shooting was "justifiable as well as in self-defense." He described Alice as "a very pretty little woman." Her maiden name was McCoy, and came from a respectable family of Ozark. Later the same night, Alice was released on $300 bond to appear in court the next day.
At her initial court appearance the next day, word arrived from Robert Blunk that he did not want to prosecute his wife. Although he was in pain and unable to attend the hearing, his condition was not considered serious. Blunk told a Springfield Leader-Democrat reporter that there was no one to blame for what happened but himself. He denied physically abusing his wife but admitted that he had given her plenty of provocations for her anger. He also denied that he planned to leave town once he was able. Despite Blunk's expressed desire that authorities go easy on his wife, her bond was continued, pending a preliminary hearing. In contrast to the Republican's description of Alice, the Leader-Democrat considered her appearance "careworn."
After her release on bond, Alice returned to her husband and took over his care, trying to nurse him back to health. She made it clear, however, that she was only doing so out of a sense of wifely duty and that once he recovered sufficiently, "their paths must henceforth lead in different directions." She said she regretted the shooting, but she still maintained that she was driven to it.
In early June it was reported that Robert Blunk had taken a relapse and, despite the fact that his condition at first was not deemed serious, "fatal results" were now feared. At the time, Alice was still "devoting all the wifely care within her power" to nurse her husband back to health but still declaring that she would not live with him once he recovered. The Republican concluded that Mrs. Blunk would no doubt be prosecuted as a routine course of law but that much sympathy was expressed for her and she would probably not be convicted.
A day or two later, another report circulated that Blunk was not dying after all and that Alice was continuing to care for him.
After a couple of more weeks of care, Blunk was able to appear in court, and Alice's preliminary hearing was held on June 19. The Republican, reporting on the proceeding the next day, took a dim view of what Blunk had to say: "Yesterday, the big, strong, burly man, whom she nursed back to life, sat in court, apparently without feeling, and told the story of the shooting with no mitigating circumstances to ease her lot. He forgot to tell the court of his barbarous and unmanly conduct towards her."
Alice, on the other hand, was "a medium sized woman with bright black eyes and hair, slender, pale and nervous," who "did not look like a desperate character, or a woman who would wantonly attempt to take human life," said the Republican. "As she sat on the witness chair telling her story to the court, clothed in a neat pink dress and fanning herself complacently with a large black fan, she appeared anything but wicked and heartless. There was a choke in her throat and a tremor in her voice as she said to the court, 'I've been a perfect, true, honest, upright wife, and when he struck me it didn't hurt where the blow fell, but it wounded my heart; there's where the wound was, and it is there still. I didn't marry him to desert him. I married to live for him."
Alice went on the tell of her husband's constant drunkenness, the many abuses she had suffered at the his hands, and "the black and blue bruises she had carried about for weeks at a time." She said she had been driven to desperation by his abuse, especially on the night before the shooting, and hardly knew what she was doing when she shot her husband.
Despite much sympathy for the defendant, she was bound over under $300 bond to await the action of a grand jury. When the grand jury met in late July, however, they declined to indict Alice, and she went free.
True to her word, Alice refused to live with her husband after he regained his health. At the time of the 1900 census, she was living in Springfield with another young woman. Although Robert was still alive, she listed her marital status as "widowed." Robert also followed through on his vow to leave Springfield and was living in Nevada, Missouri, in 1900. Six years later, in 1906, Alice finalized her split from Robert Blunk by obtaining a divorce in Greene County Court.
Later on the evening of the 25th, a Springfield Republican reporter visited Alice in the calaboose. She told the newsman: "We have been married now for three years and how I have ever stood his abuse as long as I have I don't know. Why I have worked and done everything for that man, and a suit of clothes that I bought with money that I made by sewing he sold yesterday. Wednesday night he threatened to kill me and struck me several times.
"Yesterday," she continued, "I just got a revolver and thought that if he attempted anything of that kind I would take part in it myself. I carried my revolver in my hand, but hardly expected to meet him. When I did, he was in his usual condition. I asked him for money that he drew and he struck me. Stepping behind him, I fired twice, and am sorry that I did not kill him. And I swear I will," she concluded, "if I ever get a chance," even if she hanged for it.
After listening to Alice's story, the reporter opined that, because of all the cruelties she had endured, the shooting was "justifiable as well as in self-defense." He described Alice as "a very pretty little woman." Her maiden name was McCoy, and came from a respectable family of Ozark. Later the same night, Alice was released on $300 bond to appear in court the next day.
At her initial court appearance the next day, word arrived from Robert Blunk that he did not want to prosecute his wife. Although he was in pain and unable to attend the hearing, his condition was not considered serious. Blunk told a Springfield Leader-Democrat reporter that there was no one to blame for what happened but himself. He denied physically abusing his wife but admitted that he had given her plenty of provocations for her anger. He also denied that he planned to leave town once he was able. Despite Blunk's expressed desire that authorities go easy on his wife, her bond was continued, pending a preliminary hearing. In contrast to the Republican's description of Alice, the Leader-Democrat considered her appearance "careworn."
After her release on bond, Alice returned to her husband and took over his care, trying to nurse him back to health. She made it clear, however, that she was only doing so out of a sense of wifely duty and that once he recovered sufficiently, "their paths must henceforth lead in different directions." She said she regretted the shooting, but she still maintained that she was driven to it.
In early June it was reported that Robert Blunk had taken a relapse and, despite the fact that his condition at first was not deemed serious, "fatal results" were now feared. At the time, Alice was still "devoting all the wifely care within her power" to nurse her husband back to health but still declaring that she would not live with him once he recovered. The Republican concluded that Mrs. Blunk would no doubt be prosecuted as a routine course of law but that much sympathy was expressed for her and she would probably not be convicted.
A day or two later, another report circulated that Blunk was not dying after all and that Alice was continuing to care for him.
After a couple of more weeks of care, Blunk was able to appear in court, and Alice's preliminary hearing was held on June 19. The Republican, reporting on the proceeding the next day, took a dim view of what Blunk had to say: "Yesterday, the big, strong, burly man, whom she nursed back to life, sat in court, apparently without feeling, and told the story of the shooting with no mitigating circumstances to ease her lot. He forgot to tell the court of his barbarous and unmanly conduct towards her."
Alice, on the other hand, was "a medium sized woman with bright black eyes and hair, slender, pale and nervous," who "did not look like a desperate character, or a woman who would wantonly attempt to take human life," said the Republican. "As she sat on the witness chair telling her story to the court, clothed in a neat pink dress and fanning herself complacently with a large black fan, she appeared anything but wicked and heartless. There was a choke in her throat and a tremor in her voice as she said to the court, 'I've been a perfect, true, honest, upright wife, and when he struck me it didn't hurt where the blow fell, but it wounded my heart; there's where the wound was, and it is there still. I didn't marry him to desert him. I married to live for him."
Alice went on the tell of her husband's constant drunkenness, the many abuses she had suffered at the his hands, and "the black and blue bruises she had carried about for weeks at a time." She said she had been driven to desperation by his abuse, especially on the night before the shooting, and hardly knew what she was doing when she shot her husband.
Despite much sympathy for the defendant, she was bound over under $300 bond to await the action of a grand jury. When the grand jury met in late July, however, they declined to indict Alice, and she went free.
True to her word, Alice refused to live with her husband after he regained his health. At the time of the 1900 census, she was living in Springfield with another young woman. Although Robert was still alive, she listed her marital status as "widowed." Robert also followed through on his vow to leave Springfield and was living in Nevada, Missouri, in 1900. Six years later, in 1906, Alice finalized her split from Robert Blunk by obtaining a divorce in Greene County Court.
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