A Scandal in Seattle
A physician is sued for $50,000 after an alleged affair leads to a tragic disappearance at sea.
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. Eugene Jordan of Seattle is being sued in the superior court for $50,000 by Henry E. Oldt, editor of the Pacific Coast Sportsman. The doctor is charged with alienating the affections of Oldt's wife. Mrs. Oldt left her husband early in December on the steamer Queen for San Francisco. During the trip, despondent over her trouble, she is said to have jumped overboard with her little daughter. The complainant alleges that Dr. Jordan and Mrs. Oldt were seen together the day she left for San Francisco and he holds the doctor responsible for the loss of wife and child. Dr. Jordan denies that Mrs. Oldt is dead and claims that the affair is a scheme to blackmail him.
“Dr. Jordan denies that Mrs. Oldt is dead and claims that the affair is a scheme to blackmail him.”
This 'alienation of affection' lawsuit highlights the moral and legal landscape of early 20th-century marriage, where personal scandals often played out in the pages of the press as public litigation.
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