A Big Sideroad: William Harvey Baker

William Harvey Baker has no connection to me at all. He is the brother of a young woman who

Look at that baby face

married a Ripley descendant so far removed from my family as to be silly of me to be researching. But, in the course of this sideroad - which I feel compelled at times to go down because of sheer curiosity, I discovered a tragic tale.

Raymond Hugh "Punky" Shores (the Ripley relation) was 18 years old when he died. He'd just gotten married to William's sister (not named because she is presumed to be still living) who was also 18. He went to work for a logging company and was killed in an accident very soon after. According to the report, he got wedged between a log loader and a lumber truck and was crushed. He died en route to the hospital.

His young widow had a really bad week. Only the day before, her mother, Theresa (Miller) Baker, 38, was arrested for the murder of her former husband, William Garland Baker, age 40. She sat in Ada County jail in Idaho for some little time before her story started to unravel.

Mrs Baker stated that while having dinner with the family, Mr Baker became threatening. Mrs Baker went to the bedroom to get a .25 automatic pistol and returned and started firing.

After days of intensive questioning, an entirely different story came to light.

Idaho State Journal, Pocatello, ID 20 Dec 1955

Mrs Baker spent 10 days in the county jail when at last young William Harvey, under questioning, finally confessed to the crime. After his father threatened to kill the entire family, Mrs Baker sent the youngest son, Crocket, out to get wood and she left the room. She heard two shots, returned to the room, and fainted. When she regained consciousness, she took the gun, a .25 caliber Italian automatic pistol, from her son and told him she would take the blame.

He was charged with homicide under the Youth Rehabilitative Act, was sent to trial on 05 Jun 1956. He was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to no more than 10 years in the Idaho Penitentiary. The records I located indicated he may have been released after serving four years, in 1960. He went on to live a full life, dying in 2008 in New Mexico. His mother predeceased him in 2001.

What a baby faced young man. We can only speculate what the conditions were that caused both the divorce and the death. But, abusive husbands and ex-husbands were no less prevalent then than they are now.