The Dramatic End of a Vaudeville Romance
A former Seattle physician is left in public despair after his wife, a 'Canadian songbird,' ends their marriage for a life in a variety show.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Dr. Brengle, who is well known in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Montana towns, arrived here last night from Denver. He had telegraphed for his wife to meet him at the train on his arrival, but she failed to do so. At an early hour this morning, he called on his wife at her rooms in the Umatilla block, and was promptly informed that she had no further use for him. This announcement so shocked the doctor that he fell. They found him writhing on the floor, his form twitching convulsively. He related his story: for six years he was a prosperous physician of Seattle, where he married Lillian Mason, a variety actress. He induced her to leave the stage, but later permitted her to return. The fact of his marriage to a variety actress broke up his practice, and they left Seattle.
“She had no further use for him.”
This story captures the social stigma faced by those who stepped outside the rigid domestic roles of the 1890s, particularly women in the performing arts. The doctor's professional decline illustrates how closely 'respectability' was tied to middle-class moral performance.
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