By Librarian Alyssa at Omak
Let me start off with a disclaimer that this blog does talk about suicide and mental health. I will also talk about Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility and the parallels that you can draw from the article and the book’s character Marianne Dashwood. So if you have not read the book or seen the movie there will be spoilers. If you don’t want those spoilers I highly recommend that you go and check out the book, it is a wonderful read and really delves into society and society standards on young women.
The article I found to talk about this week comes from the Wenatchee Daily World published October 14, 1910. In this article we follow Edna May Currie, who had attempted suicide when her partner, Aldie Hart, did not marry her. In the article the county officials “recommended forcibly that a wedding should take place at once” since Mrs. Currie was a good woman. This coerced the young man to go to the hospital and talk it over with Mrs. Currie. The talk must have gone well since they were married that afternoon by Dr. Stevenson, while Dr. McCoy and Mrs Egbert provided the wedding dinner.
Mrs. Currie had written two letters, one to her bau Aldie and another one was to explain why she took her life. The wrong letter was published in the newspaper causing the events that fortunately led to a wedding. We do not get to see that letter in this article. However, I did go back a day to see what was published. It turns out that Mrs. Currie shot herself in the chest, puncturing a lung but missing the heart. The October 13th article portrays Mrs. Currie as being crazy and obsessive. Reading that article than this one it is more interesting to note the tone difference. The letter that she was going to send to Aldie is not actually published in the October 13th article.
The letter she wanted to have published is included in the October 14th article and in the letter she explains why she had turned to suicide.
“To those who may be interested in my affairs: Do not think anyone killed me. I am taking my own life, for I cannot bear it longer. I am without home or friends, for they have forsaken me since I fell. Today I was to be made a bride but his mother wouldn’t let him, and I cannot face it alone, so I thought if I could just sleep never to awaken, no more trouble, nor sorrows, nor partings, no more tears to shed. Oh, girls, who may get hold of this, remember me as an example before you. I hope that God will forgive me for what I am about to do, but I can stand it no longer. I am afraid I shall lose my mind, for at times I don’t know where I am or what I am doing. I would rather die than go to the insane place. All will soon be ended. Oh, how sweet to sleep! Goodbye to those who have befriended me in my trouble. I have three cartridges in my pistol but do not intend to use them only on myself, for fear one wont take effect. This is my dying statement.”
In her statement she talks about being a fallen woman. What happened was five years ago she met a man named Jack Currie and thought she was married to him. He was a drunker and wouldn’t have anything to do with Mrs. Currie unless she also divulges in the drink, which she refused. He also cheated on her regularly. He did try to reform at one point when they moved to Shantytown. This however, did not last long and he was back at his old habits. When his associates confronted him about cheating on his wife he claimed she was not his legal wife, which was a surprise to her. He soon disappeared on her again and she decided enough was enough.
Mrs. Currie turned to Attorney Kemp to find the truth about her marriage. He directed her to talk to people in Victoria to find out if the marriage was legal or not. Following this lead she found out the sad truth that Currie had “brought in fake justice and subjected the innocent girl to the mock marriage.” On the positive side, finding this out allowed for her to not have to go through divorce procedures but instead allowed for her to marry Aldie Hart instead.
In her statement she talks about being a fallen woman. What happened was five years ago she met a man named Jack Currie and thought she was married to him. He was a drunker and wouldn’t have anything to do with Mrs. Currie unless she also divulges in the drink, which she refused. He also cheated on her regularly. He did try to reform at one point when they moved to Shantytown. This however, did not last long and he was back at his old habits. When his associates confronted him about cheating on his wife he claimed she was not his legal wife, which was a surprise to her. He soon disappeared on her again and she decided enough was enough.
Mrs. Currie turned to Attorney Kemp to find the truth about her marriage. He directed her to talk to people in Victoria to find out if the marriage was legal or not. Following this lead she found out the sad truth that Currie had “brought in fake justice and subjected the innocent girl to the mock marriage.” On the positive side, finding this out allowed for her to not have to go through divorce procedures but instead allowed for her to marry Aldie Hart instead.
Hart and Currie met while she was staying in Shantytown. There their relationship grew to the point where she was helping him to send money home to his family in Quincy. Hart’s father was crippled so there was no way for him to provide for the family. The couple were basically living as if they were married and had every intention of getting married soon. However, Hart’s mother visited this place in Shantytown and did not like the prospective daughter-in-law. Not having his mother’s approval, Aldie stopped with any plans on marriage. He tells the reporter that he realized that he should have acted on his own accord and went ahead with marriage regardless of his mother’s feelings.
The stress of not knowing if another man was going to let her down Mrs. Currie started to fear her sanity. Everytime Aldie did not follow through on his promise of obtaining a marriage license or to make her his lawfully wedded wife, she found herself absent-mindly wandering around the city only to come to her senses and not realize where she was. This last failure to obtain a license and taking off on her caused her to think for sure she would end up in the asylum and wanted to end her life instead of facing that fate. It is my belief that her fear of going to the asylum was due to her suffering from depression. Since we are aware of how mental health issues were handled during this time period it is understandable why she would fear ending up there. Thankfully the mental health field has drastically improved so that we do not have to worry as much about something like this.
The article ends with the newlyweds having no plans for the foreseeable future. Aldie has acknowledged that he needs to break away from his family to become his own person, which might be difficult since he doesn’t seem to know what that entails.
While reading this article I couldn’t help but think of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. In Sense and Sensibility we follow the Dashwood sisters as they try to overcome their new situation. Marianne is a passionate young woman who does have sense but they are easily overruled by her sensibility when it comes to love. In the story she falls in love with a charming man who she thought would marry her. However, he did not and ended up breaking her heart. Struck with grief she goes so far as to attempt suicide.
A lot of Austen’s books talk about mental illness in one capacity or another. What makes her work so successful is the fact that she allows for comfort when it comes to a mental health crisis. During World War One her novels were actually prescribed to soldiers who were shell shocked or as we know as PTSD (Wood, 2021). While reading the newspaper article about Mrs. Currie’s life I couldn’t help but draw the parallels between these two women. In both cases they fell hard for men who they thought were good guys. When the men then abruptly abandon them they spiral towards depression and believed suicide was the only possible end to a miserable existence. Neither one of them succeed in their attempts on their lives but instead end up in marriages. I do not know if Mrs. Currie had a happy marriage, but it is my hope that she did.
A lot of people live with depression and other mental health problems. Suicide is also something that isn’t new. If you ever have thoughts of suicide please call the National Suicide Preventiona Lifeline at 800-273-8255. We also have books in the library on mental health if you ever want to learn more. It is always best to talk to a health care provider if you are ever in need of mental health assistance. I am glad that this story ended on a happy note and I hope you all find it as interesting as I did.
Reference:
Wood, Heloise (2 February 2021). What Jane Austen can teach us about resilience. BBC.
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