Divorce and 'Big Bertha': A Jailer’s Scandals
After 34 years of marriage, Louisa Bogart sues her husband, a former city jailer, alleging cruelty and infidelity.
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.
Louisa M. Bogart filed for divorce in superior court yesterday against her husband, James Bogart, after thirty-four years of marriage. She charges him with cruelty and adultery with lewd women, specifically one known as 'Big Bertha,' alleging an encounter in a room under the city hall. She further alleges that he sold 400 acres of land for $18,000 and failed to account for the proceeds, which she claims as community property. James Bogart held the office of city jailer for five years, recently retiring following a change in city administration.
“She charges her husband with... adultery with lewd women, particularly with one 'Big Bertha,' which she says occurred on February 6, in a room under the city hall.”
Scandalous divorce filings in the 1890s were often the only way for women to assert legal claims to community property in a patriarchal system. The public detailing of 'Big Bertha' reflects the era’s penchant for using 'morals' charges to color legal proceedings.
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