A Bartender's Affair: Sumner Wife Flees with Her Lover
When Henry Brianer left for a business trip, bartender B. Grant moved in on his wife. Now the couple—and her two children—are missing, presumed headed to Seattle.
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.
Because of the affections of B. Grant, a bartender, for another man's wife, the home of Henry Brianer of Sumner Inn was broken up. Grant came to Sumner while Brianer was away on a business trip. He formed the acquaintance of Mrs. Brianer and soon their actions aroused the suspicions of the neighbors. When the husband returned home he was informed of the state of affairs and a stormy time followed in the Brianer home. Monday, while her husband was in Tacoma, Mrs. Brianer took her two children and left with Grant. Nothing has been seen of the couple since, but they are supposed to be in Seattle.
“Monday, while her husband was in Tacoma, Mrs. Brianer took her two children and left with Grant.”
Scandal sheets of 1904 relished a good elopement, but the story also reveals how quickly a family could be torn apart—and how a woman's departure with her children could become a public spectacle. Today, such stories still captivate tabloids, though the legal and social stakes have changed.
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