Our entry today in my (sadly) continuing series sounds all too common in America: a boy, 12, accidentally shoots and kills a distant cousin, age 15, claiming the gun somehow discharged. Happens all the time. Except in this case, drawing
on this Slate piece today, the boy is none other than revered liberal and two-time Dem nominee for president, Adlai Stevenson. The incident happened in 1912 and the author raises doubts about the official story--quite possibly young Adlai pointed gun at girl and pulled trigger to scare her, and didn't know it was loaded. If happened today, parents might be brought up on charges, or even the boy, but back them, it was turn-the-page time. Biographers, in any event, say it helped shape Stevenson's character.
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