Postmaster's Wife Seeks Divorce Amid Political Scandal
The wife of Port Townsend's new postmaster files an amended complaint for divorce, alleging indignities that have fueled the ire of her husband's political enemies.
Alice I. McNamara, the wife of G. O. McNamara, of Port Townsend, recently appointed postmaster at that city by President Cleveland, yesterday filed in the superior court an amended complaint in her suit for a divorce, the filing of which was used by McNamara's political enemies as an argument against his appointment. Mrs. McNamara realleges all of the many indignities and inhumanities mentioned in the original complaint, and in addition alleges that it was a practice of her husband to accuse her father, Boiler Inspector G. W. Bullene, of being a bounty jumper in the United States army, a fraud, and a cheat.
“The filing of which was used by McNamara's political enemies as an argument against his appointment.”
Public scrutiny of a civil servant’s private character is a recurring theme in political life. In this case, the personal grievances of the postmaster's wife became ammunition for his political opponents during the Grover Cleveland era.
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