100 years ago in central Washington: Paul Staren’s real motive in the Bongiorni rampage came to light, leading a jury to sentence him to hanging

A jury pronounced the sentence on Wilson Creek murderer Paul Staren – death by hanging.

Staren had pleaded guilty to murdering August Bongiorni in a premeditated attack at the family’s farm north of Moses Lake. The jury had only to decide whether he should have a life sentence or a death sentence. They chose the harshest penalty after hearing particularly damning evidence against Staren at the trial.

The murdered man’s mother said Staren was not angry with them because of a salary dispute, as he claimed. She testified that he had never worked on the farm at all and had only eaten one meal at the farm, one year earlier.

“She attributed the killing of her son and shooting of her husband to Staren’s desire to harm Margaret, her 13-year-old daughter,” reported the Spokane Daily Chronicle. Staren attempted to drag the girl out of the house after the shooting but was prevented by an enraged Mrs. Bongiorni, wielding an axe handle.

This testimony was bolstered by the testimony of an Othello woman, whose husband was shot and killed by an intruder two years earlier, and then “made an attack upon her.”

That intruder was never apprehended. But during the Staren trial, the Othello woman positively identified Staren has her attacker. The scar on the back of his head, she said, was inflicted by her during the attack.

Her testimony carried considerable weight since the bullet shells used in the Othello attack were identical to those found at the Bongiorno farm.