Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1906-02-06
DEATH REVEALS
HERDS SECRET
SACRIFICES LIFE FOR LOVE
OF WOMAN
Believing Himself Divorced, He Mar.
ries-compllcatfons Ensue and
Man Goes North, Only to
Perish on Valencia

Los Angeles are daily extending. alu
and sympathy to the northern relatives
of the victims of the Inflated ship Va
lencia, which went ashore and was
wrecked off the coast of British Column
bia two weeks ago, one little house,
hold in Los Angeles is desolate with
the grief of despair for the loss OF
Jack WATSON, prominent business man
of Los Angeles and one of the bravest
heroes of the wreck.
In her cottage at 1871 Downey street.
Mrs. Edna r.. WATSON, the widow,
bears the agony of her grief in silence,
all the more poignant for the fact that
when WATSON left his home here, 1t
was with but one idea, that as he
thought, doing good turn for the lit
tie woman who now mourns him.
Stern law required that a sacrifice be
made apparently
Up until few weeks ago, WATSON
and his wife were happy. They were
on their honeymoon and the love of
the couple for one another was so
great that they could scarcely be apart
for an instant.
Then came the stroke-lilSe lightning
from a clear sky-and WATSON learned
that his former wife had not obtained
divorce, although he had had every
reason to believe she had, and in his
grief and love for his bride he hur-
ried with her to the office of Attorney
Tom G. Thornton, sat by her side while
she drew up articles of annulment and
then while the articles were being filed
in the superior court he hurried north
to await the time when his former wife
I should secure her document of divorce
\ and leave him free to remarry the wo-
man of his choice.
Case Comes Up
Yesterday the case was taken up in
the higher court and set for trial, but
20 In, haor 1NYO- lit,
for Jack WATSON, university man. ath-
lete and business man, the Happy"
Jack WATSON of Los Angeles, is deep
beneath the waters of the northern
sea.
When the reports of the terrible dis
aster of the Valencia reached Los An
geles, Mrs. WATSON refused to believe
that her husband had been among those
killed. In an attempt to leave no
trace of his destination behind him,
WATSON took passage ON the ship under
the name of Jack b. Shannon.
On the morning of the 23d of Jan
uary, while the newspapers bearing the
story of the disaster were being sold
on the streets Mrs. WATSON was hur
rying from office to office trying to
CLEAN but just the slightest thread
upon which to base a hope that her
husband had been saved from the
wreck,
But on all sides she met with disap-
pointment and the name Jack B.
Shannon" standing forth among the
list of those missing caused her heart
to sink with dread. - t
Telegram after telegram she sent to
the northern officials, bearing the de-
scription of her big blonde husband,
but one report and one only she was
able to receive and that was from a
statement made by one of the sailors.
LuchanI
"The sip had just struck on the
rocks and everyone was in great con-
fusion" asserted the man, when sud-
denly big man with a shock of
blonde hair leaped on deck and started
for the boats.
With feverish hands he worked, |
helping here and there with ropes and
pulleys, while the spray dashed over
his body.
He was stripped to the waist and he |
leaped about among those endangered
with the strength and agility of two
men, ever sending the women and
children over the side to the arms of
those who sought to rescue them or
quoting some frightened man who at |
tempted to hurl himself in the ocean.
he was at once protector and nurse
TO that great number of doomed and !
Wretched passengers, and as he moved |
among them there was a smile on his |
boyish looking face and he cuddled up
some hysterca man as though he |
might have been some frightened child |
shortly before the daylight came the |
man disappeared and we could find no |
trace of him."
Hope Built on a Thread
Such was the report of the sailor and |
Mrs. WATSON is building upon that
feeble thread with her one last hope.
Yesterday Mrs. WATSON gave the |
story of her series of misfortunes to a |
Herald representative. as follows:
Il first met Jack WATSON in Arkan- |
sas, twelve years ago. just after my |
marriage. He was friend of my hus- |
band and we knew each other quite |
we'll
FINALLY my husmand and 1 went to |
Texas and that was all | heard of |
Jack until two years ago, when l met |
him in Los Angeles. He had had mis- |
fortunes as well as /.
lie had varied a former classmate |
of his at Fayetteville, Ark. He was |
graduate Of the University of Fayette- |
Vile, and the young woman had been
his best friend at the school,
They We're unable to agree and she !
had finally told him to go, and he, !
thinking only for the best, left her and
came west.
Cited From Arkansas
Two years before / met him he had
received citation from the courts in
Arkansas to appear there to answer for
himself In divorce proceedings brought
by his wife. He showed me the legal
documents and told me he had been
divorced He had later received let
ter from his Wife'S sister in which she
told him that his wife Alice was rid
of him and that she was glad of It,
AT hrst he was broken hearted over
his divorce, but later we saw a good
deal of one another and our friendship
ripened into love.
=" He went to Globe, Arizona, as chief
engineer in the Old Dominion mine last
summer, and in August Joined him
with my little girl Edith. and we were
married there ON the twenty-seventh.
"Then we came to Los Angeles on
our honeymoon and he secured a posi-
tiop at Parmelee's as city and suburban
salesman. We We're so happy in our
little home on Camler street Jack was
one Of the most lovable and kindly men
] ever knew and his love and devotion