Los Angeles herald., 1910-10-15
EXPOSE REvELS Of
RENO DIVORCES
Miss Curtis New Book May Give
Nevada Legislature I'M
petus to Change Laws
REVEALS ABANDONED LIVES
Orgies of New York Colony Mis-
mated Couples Shock the
SagebruSh Citizens
REVEALS ABANDONED LIVES
Especial to The Herald

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 14.-The
amusements of the divorce colony of
Reno. with its orgies, amours, entan-
clements and night life of abandon
ment, with its loves, cross loves and
counter affections, with it's fanctes,
frills and fights, are to be soon puo-
lished in book form by Miss Leslie
Curtis, who is at the Hotel Regent in
Sutter street working on the last
pages of her manuscript after having
spent several months among the di-
vorcees, studying their ways and mark
ing their characteristics.
News of the coming book has
reached Reno and in the divorce col
ony there is a Mortified inclination to
scurry for cover for of late the eX-
cesses have exceeded even the un-
blushing limits Of a divorce town, The
pioneers and charter members of the
colony walked circumspectly, avoiding
the public gaze and seeking nothing
more than a divorce; but as the fame
of the convenience grew, New York
began to dump from its matrimonial
heaps others who were not so particu-
lar-women who blushed not, and men
who looked not for bushes.
The six months legal stay was con-
verted from a weary waiting into one
glorious hullaballoo, with wines, pic
MICS, Joy rides and erotic thrills The
men of the western town, accustomed
merely to bloody murder, seven up,
sudden deaths, chuck-aluck and other
pastoral pursuits, blinked in wonder
at the imported New York villainies,
marveling at the new type Of bad men,
and marveling still more at the bad
women.
SIX MONTHS FROLIC
While the six months frolic was at
its height Miss Curtis went to Reno.
Keen, attractive, clever, she worked
herself into the innermoSt circles with
little difficulty and then began making
notes and gathering material for her
book A full account has she of au-
tomobile rides TO Moana springs, of
bathing parties at Laughton's, of
reckless hours at Rick's roadhouse,
with a piano whanging into the 81
lences of the desert night, of secret
trips to Lake Tahoe and peculiar
dances at Coney island. According to
her manuscript the divorce colony was
almost a unit in diVorcing reason from
their beds and wedding the wine maid.
The newcomer came to be bored,
she found, but the boredom lasted not
long. The other fellow and the other
maid were in the same boat and every
one was intent on rocking the craft
There were house parties given by di-
Vorcees, where men escaping from
their wives met, whispered, intrigued
and f1irted openly and" brazenly with
wives escaping from their husbands.
They came to sing the battle cry of
freedom, but flushed with the fumes
of new liberty, turned to yelping
license.
NEVER BEEN MARRIED
All was marked down in her little
notebook and the divorce colony is
wondering just how much she wit
messed.
"At first" said Miss Curtis. "I was
taken for a divorcee until was forced
to publish an advertisement that l was
not married, never had been and did
not contemplate matrimony. Then 1
was let alone to pursue the even tenor
of my way. My book will not please
everyone, but l have kept strictly to
the truth-and that will be revela-
ton"
Besides the colony there are others
interested in the Forthcoming volume.
The people of Reno and the politicians
Cf Nevada are getting tired of blushing
for the doings of mismated New York
ers and there is a strong likelihood
that the next Nevada legislature will
pass stringent divorce laws in order
to rid the community of the waiting
colony. Since the anti-gambling wave
swept the state the decent element has
turned its frown upon the lax dongs
of the easterners. The doom of penny
in the slot divorces is regarded as
foreshadowed. The glimpses of the
life seen by the citizens of Reno have
not been exactly enlightening and they
await with the greatest interest the
expose of the inner workings.