The Double Life of a Spokane Bigamist
A Spokane man's two wives discover his deception and team up to secure legal separation in a striking courtroom turn.
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.
L. Louis Goldberg, who conducted the Ural Diamond palace on Riverside Avenue in Spokane, has been sued for divorce by two separate women. A peculiar feature of the cases is that wife No. 2, Miss Doris Kilmer, was summoned as a witness and by her testimony assisted wife No. 1, Myrtle Goldberg, in securing her decree. Myrtle alleged that her husband attempted to choke her and was addicted to drunkenness, forcing her to leave him. Wife No. 2 left the marriage after accidentally discovering a letter from the first wife in Goldberg's possession. Goldberg's current whereabouts are unknown.
“A peculiar feature of the two divorce cases is that wife No. 2 was summoned as a witness, and by her testimony assisted wife No. 1 in securing her decree.”
While bigamy laws have evolved, the story captures a moment of solidarity between two women betrayed by the same individual—a narrative of mutual aid in the face of domestic abuse that feels surprisingly modern.
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