Slaughter Ends a Wedding Feast.

Trinidad Romer was a wealthy, young Mexican living in Douglasville, Texas, a few miles southwest of Abilene. He was in love with the daughter Julius Larinski, a Polish settler, but her affections were fixed on another man. Miss Larinski was enamored with Nathan Sorowski, another Polish immigrant, who had little to offer other than his love.

Mr. Larinski preferred the wealthy Mexican and told Romer that if he could arrange to put Sorowski out of the way, he would give him his daughter’s hand in marriage. Not long after this, Nathan Sorowski disappeared from Douglasville without a trace.

Trinidad Romer married Miss Larinski on November 11, 1893. The ceremony was followed by a sumptuous feast at which Romer became quite intoxicated. He began to loudly boast of killing Nathan Sorowsky with the help of Julius Larinski. This changed the mood of the celebration and so enraged the bride that she attacked her husband and attempted to cut his throat with a butcher knife. She was prevented by her father, but now believing that they were all in league against her, she turned the knife on herself, slashing her throat from ear to ear. Shocked and enraged by his daughter’s death, Julius Larinski put the blame on the groom. He grabbed his shotgun and emptied both barrels into Trinidad Romer.

The entire tragedy could easily have been averted; Nathan Sorowski had not been murdered. Romer had sent him on a wild goose chase. About a month before the wedding Romer had hired Sorowski to travel to Eddy, New Mexico and see a man about a projected cattle deal. When he reached his destination, he learned that no one had ever heard of the man he was looking for. He returned to Douglasville, arriving the day after the wedding.

Originally posted, April 22, 2017.

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Sources:
“His Own Life,” The Cincinnati Enquirer, November 13, 1893.
“Slaughter Ends a Wedding Feast,” National Police Gazette, December 2, 1893.