High plains jamboree

Chicago Defender, September 15, 1928. Even more than most dudes, Dr. Martin here should not have been stepping out on his wife. He’s the last word in gallant cavaliers, our Dr. Martin. My theory is that Dr. and Mrs. Martin were actually S&M buffs acting out some creepy, well-rehearsed power-exchange ritual. They probably went through a couple of school marms every year.

“Canadian vampires of high and low degree”

Chicago Tribune, August 20, 1921. Technically the Trib was a broadsheet paper, as opposed to a tabloid, but content-wise it tended to blur the barrier between the two schools of journalism. A dude stepping out on his wife scarcely fit the New York Times’s definition of “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” But how about that Miss Gertrude Ingleby, putting out all over Chinatown?! Scandalous!

Knife and bullet IV

473 West Madison is a stone’s throw from Union Station. Imagine that having been residential back in the day. And not just residential but low-rent. Newspaper carriers don’t live in palaces.

“I will blow your liver out”

Chicago Tribune, January 4, 1851. It’s been a while since we’ve run an Unwritten Law drama. This one’s pretty intense, starting with that quality bad-guy dialog from murdered libertine Abraham Redden.

Driving urge

The Baltimore African-American, June 1, 1929. No Driving Miss Daisy headlines here at The Hope Chest, as befits a class joint what I are tryin’ to run here. Scandal continues over the jump, plus there’s a novel mutation to our fungible friend, the Unwritten Law.

Affections, twice alienated

Detroit News, April 29, 1931. It used to be standard practice in adultery-related divorce suits for the cheated-upon parties to sue the third party for “alienation of affections.” Essentially the seducer or seductress had robbed of them of a lifetime of lovin’, and they were entitled to cash compensation for that loss. But then it was ultimately up to a judge or jury to determine how much all that lovin’ was worth. What were the criteria? In the above case, the jury is implicitly measuring love by the pound. But there had to be hurt feelings to go around when an award came back $30K light. Even the new possessor of the runaway spouse has to feel insulted on some level, even if he or she is catching a huge financial break

But then there’s this other case to consider, from Detroit News, March 19, 1931:

Man Slays Wife, Then Kills Himself

Detroit News, April 27, 1931. Somehow I would expect pheasant breeders to be a highly-strung bunch, but still . . .
Not sure whether we are meant to pick up on some coded implication of hanky-panky involving the slain wife and her bedroom guest. Calling the latter “hysterical” is a tad unfeeling, though, whatever the facts of the matter.

“I’m glad I helped mamma kill her”

Chicago Tribune, August 5, 1934. Another application of the unwritten law entres femmes. Don’t know yet whether Wilma was successful in her appeal to the UL, but she’s a dark horse candidate at best for Mother of the Year.

A place of broad lawns and lawless broads

Chicago Tribune, October 20, 1931. Further expansion of the “unwritten law” to cover serial catfight ass-kickings. Oak Park, for those who don’t know, is a tony southwestern suburb of Chicago (“a place of broad lawns and narrow minds,” in the words of its most famous native son, the celebrated gay amateur bullfighter Ernest Hemingway). But it’s adjacent to some pretty un-tony suburbs–Berwyn, for example. I wonder if there isn’t a class-warfare angle to this little rhubarb. The $50,000 alienation suit kinda suggests that Mrs. Yonan saw her Oak Park rival as someone with deep pockets.

A mixture of spaghetti and macaroni

Chicago Tribune, January 29, 1908. Interesting attempt on the part of the prosecutor to use nativist prejudice against alien foodstuffs as a hedge against the “unwritten law.” Hard to figure out exactly what’s going on here relationship-wise though: was there a rape or seduction? Or did Ferreo simply sell Mr. Anselone on the notion that his wife was no good to improve his prospects with Angelina?

Also, I wonder if Ferreo’s epitaph–”Died In Self-Defense”–made better sense in Italian. More on the disposition of the case after the jump.