A Local Reputation at Stake
Bertha Denton fights back against media portrayals, threatening a slander suit following reports about her actions at Camp Murray.
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.
One of Bertha Denton's attorneys advised the suing of the News of Tacoma for reprinting a Spokane Review story referring to Miss Denton's action at Camp Murray. Miss Denton calls the article cowardly and contemptible. She claims she is being used as a scapegoat and a tool for men who the press dare not attack. She further states she was not the cause, but merely the pretext, for the separation and divorce of Lieutenant-Colonel Marshall K. Snell and his wife, Jennie M. Snell. Miss Denton promises to press a slander suit against Mrs. Snell regarding these accusations.
“Is it a crime to become notorious when that notoriety has been gained by having politicians whipped over one's shoulders?”
This item illustrates how turn-of-the-century local newspapers often functioned as platforms for social scandal and reputation warfare, a dynamic that translates directly to the modern era of social media and digital defamation concerns.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.