There was lots of news in The Tacoma Daily News of Saturday, Sept. 14, 1907. Four stories merited equal presentation at the top of Page 1:
• Former state Sen. A.T. Van de Vanter had been “fatally hurt” when a streetcar hit his car near the Puget Sound Electric Co. racetrack. (He didn’t die until the next night.)
• Operators of a tugboat had returned to Tacoma with the story of a whale so frightened by lightning during a storm off Robinson’s Point the previous Wednesday that it had broken the lines holding their log boom together.
The men estimated the whale was 90 feet long.
• Investigators of a robbery at Knickerbocker Bank in Auburn had decided the bank’s safe must have been opened by someone who knew the combination.
• A national boilermakers strike was expected to affect railroads locally.
The curious choice for that day’s paper was a small story that ran right under the one about the bank robbery. It was headlined:
“SHE THOUGHT IT OVER
“And Decided to Give Husband Another Chance”
Mrs. Blanche Fowell, the complaining witness in a divorce case, had formally asked for its dismissal. When asked why, she’d replied, “Well, you see, I got to thinking it over and decided to give him another chance, so we made up again.”
The story concluded, “Fowell, when approached on the subject, did not say anything, but smiled significantly.”
A happy development indeed, but a Page One story in the local newspaper?
Insight into the editors’ decision grew with a column on Page 2 the following Friday, apparently from a weekly report from divorce court. There were six cases, the first headlined:
“SLEEPS IN BARN WHILE WIFE LABORS
“Mrs. Carver Tells Story of Lazy Husband”
A substantial report followed of a sunburned woman named Orilla Jones Carver, who’d been married for five years to Charles Carver. She reported that he’d spent most of those years in “indolence and abuse.”
She was willing to split their 5 acres of land with the man, she told the judge. But he said she could keep it all, being “pleased with the sacrificing spirit of the woman,” according to the report.
She didn’t want alimony or support for their one child, only nothing further to do with her husband. She was awarded the divorce.
Tacked on to the end of the proceeding was one last request: He wanted the ring back.
“Well, you keep that, and tell him he cannot share it,” ordered the judge.
The story of an errant wife followed. Then one about a highly paid engineer – making more than $100 a month – who quit his job to avoid sharing his earnings with his wife. And then a woman complaining that her husband didn’t make the house payments and was living with another woman.
The last two cases got only a sentence each, about extreme cruelty and an award of temporary alimony.
Yes. The forgiving wife and her smiling husband had easily made Page One news.
Janice Smith: 253-597-8543
This is one of a series of stories appearing during The News Tribune’s 125th year. Every Sunday we look at what happened during the same week sometime in the past 125 years. To suggest a week or an event for an upcoming story, e-mail your idea and any details to randy.mccarthy@thenewstribune.com.
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