He Missed the Masquerade Ball. She Filed for Divorce. He Took Morphine.
Paul J. Ravage died at St. Joseph's Hospital after his wife divorced him over a forgotten night out in Spokane.
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.
TACOMA, Aug. 20.—[Special.]—Paul J. Ravage, a waiter who died yesterday at St. Joseph's Hospital, took morphine because his wife secured a divorce from him at Spokane, where they were married a few months ago. Their trouble arose over Ravage's failure to take his wife to a masquerade ball. He went downtown and got drunk, and forgot all about the ball. When he learned that his wife had secured a divorce on the grounds of desertion, he was in Seattle. He came here and ate so much morphine that he could not recover from its effects when taken to the hospital.
“Their trouble arose over Ravage's failure to take his wife to a masquerade ball.”
Divorce was a scandal in the 1890s, and a man's refusal to take his wife to a masquerade ball could become a public humiliation. The story is a reminder of how private despair and public shame intersected—and how far mental-health care has come, or hasn't.
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