Today in Literary History – September 6, 1951 – the day William S. Burroughs shot and killed his wife
Today in Literary History – September 6, 1951 – the day William S. Burroughs shot and killed his wife On September 6, 1951, Beat Generation writer William Burroughs killed his common-law wife Joan Vollmer during a drunken party trick that got way out of hand. Burroughs later said he had "eight or ten drinks... I don't remember exactly," before he tried to shoot a highball glass that was balanced on her head. Instead, he shot her in the forehead, killing her almost instantly. This is the tragic true story of Joan Vollmer, the Beat Generation muse killed by her own husband — click the link in our profile to read more. On September 6, 1951, William S. Burroughs shot his wife, Joan, through the forehead after she had placed a glass on her head in a “William Tell” game. The killing, at a party in Mexico City, was the most infamous incident in the controversial writer’s life, notes Rob Johnson, who teaches at the University of Texas-Pan American. Yet when Burroughs, then 37,...