Scandal in the Populist Press
The internal affairs of the 'Advocate' turn public when a partner is accused of spiriting away his colleague's wife.
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.
Editor Bridges, of the Advocate, and Mr. Yater, his partner, are having trouble. The latter part of last week Mr. Bridges' wife came up missing. A careful search was made for her, but she was not found until this week. Bridges claims that Yater was responsible for her disappearance and that he had the woman in hiding. She was found at Capt. Wuestney's, near Napavine, where, it is claimed, that Yater and a fellow Populist had taken her. Bridges has resigned the editorship of the Advocate and Yater is holding the fort at present. Bridges claims that Yater was taken into his home as a friend, but that during the past few months he has estranged his wife from him. The woman is a mere girl, having married young. Mr. Bridges received a telegram from his wife's father a few days ago requesting their immediate return to Missouri. She is reported to have said that she would go, but not with her husband. Considerable bitter feeling is being engendered between the friends of the two men, but as yet there has been no collision.
“Considerable bitter feeling is being engendered between the friends of the two men, but as yet there has been no collision.”
This domestic scandal within a political organization shows how personal feuds often consumed the era's partisan press. The story highlights the precarious social status of 'mere girls' married young, a common dynamic in 19th-century domestic reporting.
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