This
is an article that I wrote which was published in the Cottage Grove
Genealogical Society periodical, Trees From the Grove, 10 years ago,
in 2007. It concerned one of my 1st cousins 3 times removed, Rachel (Monroe) Stoops.
TRACING
A TRAGIC INCIDENT
In
beginning genealogy we are advised to “listen” to family
tradition and do research to discover whether it is true. But often
we find some of the more interesting stories by just doing research.
I have been trying to use the approach that I research the whole
family, including all the children and grandchildren of each direct
ancestral couple. With the large size of some of the families, this
gives numerous opportunities to discover these stories.
One
of my discoveries came while researching one of the grandchildren of
my third great-grandparents, Thomas and Sarah (Lollar) O’Neal.
Their son, Commodore Perry O’Neal, known as Perry, was my second
great-grandfather. His youngest sister was Rebecca, who married
Alexander Monroe. Both families had come to Oregon in the Creswell
area by 1880.
Following
the whole family approach, I researched the easily available basics:
the published Lane County Marriage Records at Cottage Grove
Genealogical Society Library and my subscription on-line for census
records and the Oregon death index. Finding possible names to
research, I obtained copies of some of the family death certificates
from a trip to the Oregon State Archives in Salem.
One
of Rebecca’s daughters was Rachel, born in December 1871 in
California and married August 29th,
1889 to J. O. Stoops, a son of an early Pleasant Hill area settler.
The 1900 census showed them as Oscar J. and Rachel Stoops with four
children, living in Springfield, Lane County, Oregon. When I checked
Rachel’s death certificate for her death on October 17th,
1905, I found that she had died in Marshfield, Coos County, Oregon
and the cause of death was “killed by J.A. Armitage.” What did
this mean? More research seemed necessary.
A
trip to the Knight Library at the University of Oregon at Eugene was
the next step, since all of the known surviving newspapers from
Oregon have been microfilmed and are available there. Checking first
in the published inventory of available newspapers, I found that
there was a paper from Marshfield for that time period. However, when
I looked at the Library I found that it was not there that particular
day. Was my trip wasted? I decided to check the newspapers from
Eugene to determine if any mention of the “killing” was in it.
The
October 18th
edition of the Morning Register had it on the front page with the
headline: “DOUBLE TRAGEDY AT MARSHFIELD: Both Victims Were
Residents of Eugene Several Years Ago, J. A. Armitage Kills Mrs. J.
O. Stoops, With Whom He was Infatuated, and Then Ends His own
Life---Was Under Peace Bonds for Threatening Woman.” The article
gave some of the details. It stated that Mr. Armitage had taken a
rifle and revolver and broke into the Stoops home through a window.
Mrs. Stoops and her children had taken refuge upstairs. Having taken
a gun with her, she shot Mr. Armitage when he came up the stairs,
wounding him. He continued up the stairs and grabbed her and shot her
with his pistol. He had dropped the rifle and Rachel’s thirteen
year old daughter picked it up and hit him on the head to try to save
her mother. After he had killed Rachel, Mr. Armitage left the house
and went back to his home where he shot himself. The article related
that he had been bound over a few weeks before in the sum of $800 to
keep the peace because he had threatened Rachel’s life. It also
gave the details that Rachel left a husband and five children and Mr.
Armitage left a wife and grown family at Eugene.
Then
I wondered if a coroner’s inquest had been held. The County Records
Inventory on the website for the Oregon State Archives stated that
Coos County had inquest records that included 1905 at their
Courthouse in Coquille. Since I was already planning a trip to Coos
Bay the first weekend in November for a genealogical conference I
decided to try to include a side trip to Coquille. I telephoned the
County Clerk’s Office at the Courthouse and asked if those inquest
records would be available for researching. The person who answered
the telephone did not know at first, but asked someone and said it
was possible. She asked for the names and said she would check and
let me know if they had them, so I would not have to make a special
trip for nothing. It was a few days later that there was a message on
my voice mail that the records were there and they would have them
for me when I arrived on Friday, November 5th.
Reading
the inquest record for Rachel Stoops was a sad experience. It was
held later in the evening on the same day that she was killed.
Her
husband was called as the first witness. He verified her identity as
the 32 year old daughter of Rebbeca O’Neil and Alexander Monroe. He
stated that she had told him that Mr. Armitage had threatened her
life two months before, in August. Then their fifteen year old son,
Frank, was called, but he had been at school so could not give any
information about what had happened.
I
found the testimony of their daughter, thirteen year old Lulu, the
most troubling. She and her mother and the two year old baby were the
only ones at home that afternoon. Lulu stated the following: We
were up stairs and mama was sewing, and first we knew was when we
heard him break in the window, and then mama got up and
creamed[sic—screamed] and she grabbed for her gun and ran to the
stairs and he was headed up the stairs and mama shot at him and then
he fell backwards down the stairs and then he got up and came up the
stairs again and she had shot at him as he was coming up and then she
grabbed a chair and hit him over the head with a chair and then he
commenced to shoot at her and then I picked up his gun and I hit him
over the head with it three times and he grabbed the gun away from
me, and he started down stairs and then mama fell, and I did not know
anything more about him, until I heard a man say he heard him over
there and that he was dying….I ran to the window and hollowed to
Mrs. Margelt to come that mama was shot and she said she would go and
get Mrs. Richardson and she went for her and they came down and Mrs.
Richardson was the first one to the house and then Mrs. Bargelt came
and then Mr. Carter came. She explained that Mr. Armitage had got
into the house through the window, breaking it in. When asked what he
said after he had broken in, she said: “When he started up the
stairs, he said, Now I’ve got you.” She continued her story:
he took his pistol out of his pocket after he came upstairs. He
grabbed hold of her [Rachel] and had his arm around her neck and then
he commenced to shoot her but I am not sure where he shot her. They
questioned Lulu about whether he had tried to do anything to her
after her mother had been shot. She told them He started to shoot
me, but he must have been too weak I think…He pointed the pistol at
me, he tried to pull the trigger but he could’nt. Then Mr.
Armitage left.
J.
O. Stoops was recalled as a witness and explained that he had left
the previous day to go up the Coos River and was there when he
received the news about his wife. The Stoops family had lived at
Marshfield for three years as had Mr. Armitage. They had known each
other, being neighbors, before moving there.
Next,
some of the neighbors were called to testify. Then Lulu was called
again to clarify her testimony. When asked what she said during the
incident, Lulu answered: No sir nothing was said, I was screaming
all the time.
The
inquest concluded with the testimony of the City Marshall and the
doctor who examined the body. The verdict of the jury at the inquest
was: “Rachel Stoops.came to her death by gunshot wounds inflicted
by James A Armitage, in her home in Marshfield Oregon between the
hours of 3 and 4 oclock P.M. on the 17th day of October
1905.”
At
a later trip to the Knight Library, a weekly Marshfield newspaper was
available, so I found and copied another story of this murder. Their
headline on page one of the October 21st paper (taken from
Wednesday’s Daily): “SHOCKING DOUBLE TRAGEDY. J. A. Armitage
Kills Mrs. J. O. Stoops and Then Himself.” On page five was a
second article (taken from Thursday’s Daily): “ELEVEN SHOTS WERE
FIRED. More Particulars of Tuesday’s Ghastly Tragedy.”
From
research I discovered a story of a tragic incident. It appears that
Rachel was involved in a case of stalking. She had obtained a type of
restraining order against her adversary, but as sometimes happens
today, a hundred years later; this did not prevent her death. Now,
for me anyway, Rachel will not be forgotten.
SOURCES
Myers,
Jane and Arlene Smith, compilers, Lane County Oregon Marriage
Records 1880-1889, Vol. III Cottage Grove, Oregon: Cottage Grove
Genealogical Society, 1980.
Morning
Register, Eugene, Oregon. 18 October 1905
Weekly
Coast Mail, Marshfield, Oregon. 21 October 1905
Oregon.
Coos County. Inquest Record. Rachel Stoops, October 17, 1905. Coos
County Courthouse, Coquille, Oregon
