Washington's First Scandal - The Begar Affair

In October, 1839, the first recorded scandal rocked the little village of Washington.  And while the story would not, unfortunately, have this same effect on the community today, in 1839 it made headlines across the nation.

Our tragic story unfolds around a married couple named Begar (spelled Bogar in some accounts).  They had moved to the area a couple of years earlier, living just north of town.  Mr. Begar was of French descent and worked at a local tannery, likely near his home.  Mrs. Begar was German.  They had one child around three years of age.

Mr. and Mrs. Begar did not get along very well.  Their disagreements were well known in the community, and they had been seen chasing each other with an axe.  One morning, the couple had a real knock-down-drag-out before Mr. Begar left for work. After he left, Mrs. Begar decided to go to a relative's house in a place called Partridge Point, formerly known as Black Partridge, which later became Metamora.  She jumped on a horse and took off.

While working, Mr. Begar saw his wife riding north and took off to catch up with her.  With him, he had a gun he had purchased the weekend before in Peoria.  He caught up with her north of town around what is now the intersection of Boyd Parkway and Main Street.  He dragged her off of her horse and proceeded to fire a bullet at her head.

At that point, a witness came upon the scene, at which point Mr. Begar fired another shot into his wife's head.  The witness took off back to Washington to summon help.  As he was riding back to town, the witness heard a third shot.

Multiple Washingtonians returned to the scene and found Mr. Begar dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  It was a gruesome sight that would remain in their memories for the rest of their days.  Strangely, however, Mrs. Begar was nowhere to be found.  

As it turns out, Mrs. Begar had survived the attack and ran to the house of Thomas Trimble.  The Trimble property was about a quarter of a mile away near what is now Bowen Lake.  She was then treated for her wounds.  One source reported that Eliza and Amanda McCorkle dressed her wounds.

One of the bullets from the sub-standard firearm lodged in the woman's hair and never reached the scalp.  The second penetrated the scalp slightly and broke in two.  After removal of the bullets, Mrs. Begar returned to perfect health rather quickly.  Mr. Begar was not so lucky, as he fired his fatal shot into his own mouth.  He was buried on the side of the road where the incident took place (most likely the road that is now North Main Street).

The fantastic story was reported in the Peoria Register on October 12, 1839, and then spread to other newspapers across the country in the ensuing weeks, almost assuredly the first time the town of Washington had ever been mentioned in nationwide newspapers.  In 1839, Washington had only gone by that name for five years.