A Missing Victoria Man Turns Up in Seattle—With a Messy Family Scandal
John Petticrew was tracked to a Seattle laundry after vanishing from Victoria. He says his wife ran off with a former sailor, came back once, then left again.
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.
John Petticrew, who disappeared with his family from Victoria last September, and concerning whose case a report was printed in Saturday's POST-INTELLIGENCER, has been found. At present he is working for the Puget Sound Steam Laundry in this city, but not living with his wife. At least, that was the case Saturday.
The family left Victoria and came to Seattle, where Petticrew got work. It appears that Thomas Sales, formerly a sailor in the British navy, roomed with the family, and in time it became apparent that there was more than a kindly feeling between Petticrew's wife and Sales. Petticrew says he told his wife that if she thought more of Sales than him she had better go with him. She took his advice and lived with Sales a few days. Petticrew meanwhile put his two children in a home in North Seattle. Three days ago Mrs. Petticrew wanted to return to her husband and he consented. She returned, but on the following day saw Sales and went off with him again. Petticrew now says he will return to Victoria with his children.
“She returned, but on the following day saw Sales and went off with him again.”
The Petticrew case is a reminder that family breakdown and custody disputes were once raw material for the daily paper, just as they are for tabloids and social media now. Then as now, the story is told almost entirely from the husband's side, with the wife's own account missing.
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