scandal

Helen May Valk Borden sued her millionaire husband Gail Borden for divorce in 1911, in Los Angeles; his money came from a condensed-milk fortune. The divorce was finally granted in 1914. news.google.com/newspapers?id=F5YxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3SAEA... query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50611F63B5517738... Big drama. At some point in the difficult divorce process, Helen placed her daughter Ramona in a New Jersey sanitarium/boarding school, to hide her from Gail; then Gail's people kidnapped Ramona from the sanitarium, or maybe she ran away; either way, she turned up in Boston a few days later: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40713FB3C5B13738... query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60F12F83C5B13738... Alexine Ramona Borden (b. 1896) married in 1916, to Cole Parker, at her maternal grandparents' home: query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F50915FE345B17... Gail Borden remarried in January 1916, to Margaret B. Coutaint of Pittsburgh. So this is maybe Margaret rather than Helen.

Edith Ostend Jacobson Goldman was a chorus girl who married Robert J. Goldman, the college aged son of Henry Goldman (of Goldman Sachs). Henry disapproved and sent his son out west to work on a ranch, then hired detectives who caught Edith with other men. Divorce soon followed. select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60D16FA395C1373...

Good catch! Colorful story too, involving detectives coming thru the fire escape, scantily clad actresses, etc, etc. The divorce trial began March 1, 1915 in Manhattan.

Thanks, j3net. We'll add her full name to the our record.

French journalist, his wikipedia entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_Calmette He died in March 1914--assassinated by Henriette Caillaux, who was afraid he was about to reveal secret details of her personal life. (She was acquitted.)

I was just about to google his name. Thanks :)

pennylrichardsca: Thanks for the information on M. Calmette. Quite a story! We will add more details to the record.