Topeka ? Ellen Lunney was 19 years old when she walked into a Norton County courtroom and opened fire on the man charged with raping her.

Lunney shot Eugene McEnroe four times, and the only reason she didn’t shoot him a fifth time was because she missed, said Douglas Yocom, Lunney’s grandson.

That was 1894, and Yocom’s family didn’t discuss the rape, shooting or Lunney’s eventual murder trial for decades. But now they are talking about all of it, thanks to Yocom’s book on the events, “A Matter of Chastity: the High Plains Saga of a Woman’s Revenge.”

Yocom, 68, grew up in Lunney’s home in northwest Kansas, but only learned of her experiences four years ago during conversations with his cousins. Before that, they had been family secrets, well-guarded for more than 100 years.

“I had no idea there was anything like this in my grandmother’s history,” said Yocom, who remembered Lunney as a kind, quiet, woman who had few friends in Lenora.

The trial of Lunney, and two male relatives who were tried as accomplices, was heavily covered by the two Norton newspapers. Women from Norton also jammed the seats of the courtroom, Yocom said.

At the time, a woman couldn’t serve as a juror and could vote only in a school or municipal election.

Witness after witness testified to seeing Lunney shoot McEnroe, 26, during his pre-trial hearing. But Lunney told jurors McEnroe earlier had raped her. After 17 hours of deliberation, the jury acquitted her.

“It’s a case of a woman being raped, and she just decided that he had taken the most valuable thing she had – her chastity,” Yocom said. “I think the jury didn’t have any question that he was the rapist.”

After learning of the story, Yocom traveled to Norton several times to unearth the details from Norton County Court records and newspaper stories from the Norton County Library.

He said his relatives now, after decades of silence, have been “very supportive” of the book.