In the wee hours of January 1, 1922, Mrs. Agnes Purdin and her lover, Howard Sigsby were nestled together in Agnes' home on SE 47th St., when her estranged husband broke into the house, disturbing the sleeping lovers.
Agnes and Sigsby managed to get out of the bed before Purdin shot Agnes three times in the head. Sigsby was shot three times before Purdin took a hatchet to his head, reducing it to pulp.
Purdin left the house and returned later to look for his things. Three days later, a neighbor, not having seen any activity in the house, wandered over and looked through a window. What she saw was Howard's body on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood; she called police.
The case was sensationalized in the press. Purdin was arrested and tried and found guilty of manslaughter. He served seven years for murdering two people in cold blood. His attorney argued that he was insane at the time of the murder; the jury bought it. It was improper, after all, to be a married woman and found to be "en disabille" with a man who was not your husband.
Sigsby is interred in Section B, with a small block marker. Agnes is interred at Rose City. Once Mr. Purdin was released from prison, he left the state.
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