Forster, 40, was the son of California's wealthiest landowners and an incorrigible cad with two out-of-wedlock children. Lastania Abarta, 18, was the beautiful daughter of a tavern owner. She played guitar and sang for adoring audiences.
Abarta ran off with Forster to a hotel where he took her virginity. Afterward, Forster left to find a priest so the two could marry. When Forster failed to return, she and her sister scoured the streets until they found Forster gambling. With a single shot to the eye, she shot him dead.
Abarta was acquitted after a doctor testified that "Any virtuous woman when deprived of her virtue would go mad, undoubtedly."
-Scott McCabe
