A Husband's Public Plea After Wife Departs
Lee Smith seeks the apprehension of his wife and three children after she left the city to start a new life with another man.
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.
Lee Smith, a local laborer, is mourning the loss of his wife who reportedly ran away last Saturday with a man named William Anderson, taking their three children with her. Smith, who married the woman in February, claims they lived happily until three months ago. Upon his return from working near Prescott, his wife informed him she would no longer live with him. After she left the city on the W.C.R. train with Anderson, Smith telegraphed nearby towns in an attempt to have the runaways apprehended.
“Smith has telegraphed to all the nearby towns to apprehend the runaways if they can be found.”
This story serves as a stark reminder of how personal marital disputes were once routinely aired in the public press. The casual documentation of a husband using the authorities to track down his estranged family reflects the power dynamics and social norms regarding marriage in the early 1900s.
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