The Flat-Iron, the Umbrella, and the Inkstand: A Port Townsend Divorce Suit
J. K. Meyer's divorce petition turns a respectable Port Townsend marriage into a catalogue of thrown household goods, alleged affairs, and very public embarrassment.
J. K. Meyer, of Port Townsend, is suing for divorce. He charges his wife with cruelty and adultery. Harry Chappell is named as her most intimate friend. Mr. Meyer says his wife called him vile names, threw flat-irons, milk pitchers and inkstands at him; hit him with an umbrella; beat him with her fists; choked him, bumped him on the floor; associated with bad women; played cards, drank beer, and went hunting, fishing and driving with other men, and lived openly with Harry Chappell. The Meyers are very well known in Port Townsend.
“Mr. Meyer says his wife called him vile names, threw flat-irons, milk pitchers and inkstands at him; hit him with an umbrella; beat him with her fists; choked him, bumped him on the floor.”
Divorce suits were the reality television of the 1890s, but the Meyer case also shows how domestic cruelty and adultery allegations were aired in public with little privacy. Port Townsend's tight-knit society made such scandals especially damaging—and irresistible to the press.
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