The Butcher's Double Life
A local butcher's social charade collapses when his wife arrives in town from Pendleton, leading to a swift departure and unpaid debts.
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.
George Jones, a butcher who has been at different times in the employ of the Kauffman Meat company and Civs Harras, is missing, and many business men are out considerable money due them on account. The principal loser by his sudden departure is a livery stable firm, to whom Jones is alleged to be indebted quite a large sum for the hire of buggies. Jones came to Walla Walla about six months ago. He represented himself here as an unmarried man, and being a man of prepossessing appearance, it was not long until he was keeping company with several young ladies in this city. He made a 'good fellow' of himself by escorting the young ladies to theaters and taking them buggy riding on Sundays. His wife, who had been left in Pendleton with their child, eventually became suspicious and came to Walla Walla last Sunday to look him up. Her sudden appearance on the scene created much excitement among those who had been led to believe that Jones was a single man. Not having the courage to face those whom he had deceived, he took the train Sunday evening, presumably for Montana.
“Her sudden appearance on the scene created much excitement among those who had been led to believe that Jones was a single man.”
Scandals of 'the bigamist among us' were a staple of early 20th-century local journalism, providing both entertainment and a moralizing lesson on the dangers of social deception in a tightly-knit community.
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