While we were looking through the cemetery information booklet, I came across the name of a woman laundress who is buried there. According to the booklet, Julia Roach was the first woman known to be shot dead in Montana Territory. Her husband did it, but he was never punished.
I thought to myself , "Oh sure. If he shot another man, he would have been hung."
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| Custer National Cemetery |
Well, the story may not be so simple. The shooting actually took place at Fort C.F. Smith where Mrs. Roach had tracked down her husband who was known as Corporal John Doyle. Mrs. Roach and several of their children arrived as a "surprise" for her husband who hadn't seen her since leaving them in New York City. While on the trail of her missing husband, Mrs. Roach had been warned at Fort Phil Kearney about her promiscuous, profane, and abusive behavior. Apparently Corporal Doyle was a mild-mannered man who got fed up with her verbal misbehavior. After she insulted him about his "fathering" skills, he shot her dead.
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| Grave marker of Julia Roach. |
Why wasn't he punished? Corporal Doyle was placed under arrest, but the commander of Fort Smith didn't think it was an army matter. He promised that Doyle would be turned over to the civil authorities. However, the closest civil authorities were a couple of hundred miles away. It never happened. Corporal Doyle was returned to duty and transferred with the rest of his unit when Fort Smith was abandoned. Soon he deserted and was never heard from again.
Mrs. Roach was buried at Fort Smith, but when the fort was closed, her body was reinterred at Custer National Cemetery.
Did Corporal Doyle try to escape from Mrs. Roach and her nasty personality by changing his name and joining the army? Was she right to trail him like she did? Army pay was quite low, there was no such thing as child support, and divorce was extremely difficult to obtain in those days of the eighteen hundreds.
What do you think about this case?
Smarty and I'll be back soon.
Carol
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