Shortly before dusk on Nov. 3, 1870, Laura Fair approached Alexander Parker Crittenden as he sat with his wife and three of his children on El Capitan, a San Francisco-bound ferry. The newspapers described Fair as a mysterious woman who wore all black as if dressed in mourning. She had followed Crittenden onto the ferry. In fury, she shouted words to the effect that Crittenden had ruined her and her daughter. And then she shot him.

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