The Portland daily press., 1895-08-24
SIOUX FALLS DIVORCE COLONY.
Dakota Town for the Breaking of the
Marriage Tie,
Corr. of Philadelphia Times. }

Corr. of Philadelphia Times.
The colony consist of two distinct
classes. The first and smaller number is
composed Of good, honest women Who
unwilling to air their grievances anu
expose their family skeletons to the eyes
Of their townspeople, or to see their
names banded from one newspaper 10
another come out here, knowing that the
divorce laws are not as strict as those VI
the Eastern States. and that you can op-
tain release from letters which bind you
| to some Old Man of the Sea by other
means than the proving of the breaking
of the seventh commandment. Ihese
| women come here and bury themselves
| in some private family. hoping to escape
all notice. fallaciously thinking that no
one will suspect their errand, and bravery
bending their backs to the burden, pre-
pared to take up their new life in this
| far-away primitive town as cheerfully as
possible, looking forward for cheer ana
comfort to the bright star ON the horizon
of the future, their divorce and release.
| For such woman the awakening to the
real position which she holds in the town
| is something awful. The second class is
composed of women who have violated
their marriage VOWS, who have formed
mad infatuation for some man, and
whose only object in coming here is to
take advantage of the loose divorce laws,
and in nine cases out of ten to live in
open shame with their paramours, while
4 putting themselves under the protection
of these laws. their daily life being an
open defiance of any law, human or di-
vine. To these women the opinion, good,
bad or indifferent, Of man or woman is
a matter of perfect Indifference, the
| notoriety and the criticism they call forth
being only SO much criticism incense
burned before the shrine of their sensual
vanity. And to these women may be
given the credit for the ignominious
scourge which flays their honest suffering
sisters.
The actions Of the divorces" have been
so open to criticism that the inhabitants
Judge one and all by the same standard.
These colonists form distinct popula-
ton by themselves. There is an air, a
style, bearing about them which is en-
tirely unlike the townspeople The ma
jority of them are well-to-do-in fact they
| must be, as Sioux Falls is not cheap
place to live in, that is, for a divorce,
and poor woman going there in the
| hope that she can earn her living while
gaining her residence would find her
hopes dashed rudely to the ground. 1t is
not an exaggeration to say that she would
not be received in the kitchen as SER
want, and this assertion is made with the
stern fact staring one in the face that SER
wants are as gold out here, they are so
scarce. The question has it's funny side,
too; indeed, how could life be borne out
| here were there not some 1udicrous in
cidents to distract them? Women. heart
broken, paralyzed with the horrors of
their position, with the knowledge that,
| in order to gain their ultimate freedom,
they must pass through Zolas' nauseat-
| ing kitchen-namely, six months ostra-
cism in his desolate place; SO listless that
life or death would be equally welcome,
|
tered not, in their longing for a breath of
native air; SO Frustrated by the long six
months required for residence as to be
almost willing to throw the whole thing
up; SO indignant at the fact that they
were spotted the very first day they
reached the town and their secret mission
made public property; these women,
before they have been week in town,
have started out and gone to the post
office, and on their return were brighter,
more cheerful, announcing with all the
aplomb of an old colonist, this bit of
gossip, "That there was new divorce in
town. Forgetting their own heartaches
in the wonder as to who the new member
felt; sympathizing with her, and fairly
carried away by the impulse, which is
strong within them, to be a prop, a
guide, shield to the stranger There is
freemasonry among them which draws
| them to one another, and few hours
acquaintance, united by one common tie,
will open up an intimacy, friendship,
which it would have taken years to
cement in the East.
| AS rule the women are pretty,
stylishly dressed and well educated. The
majority are young, and being young,
love life, excitement, pleasure, all three
of which are forbidden colonist. Does
she assert her youth, her righteousness,
her natural desire for something beside
the seclusion to which she is doomed, the
eyes of every man, woman and child in
the place, are upon her, and the secret
police system of all the Russians is as
nothing compared to the espionage of her
every act, word and thought. What she
does is bruited all over the place, what