Lives of Women – Graveyard Snoop

17210 Hull Street: Rose’s Story (3)

It’s time to talk about my complicated, resilient, frustrating, singular great-grandmother Rose.

1. The Pheasant

This time, the path to my great-grandmother’s long-gone garden in Detroit starts at mine in Chicago.

We are blessed to have a city home with a large backyard, and a neighbor who keeps it filled with plants and flowers. We also have a kitchen door with four little windows, perfect for enjoying the whole view of the yard and the alleyscape beyond.

One day last year I was at the door, when I saw a brown rabbit in the garden bed. This happens a lot in the city. We two were having a quiet moment—me the hidden watcher, while this unaware bunny hopped between the dahlia stalks.

And then I thought: I bet the pheasant happened like this.

Mother Love: The Townsends (Pt 2)

Feb. 16, 1921; Santa Barbara, Calif.

Caroline Townsend Comstock had been married in a bohemian ceremony, at dawn, on the top of a mountain. Her husband designed bookplates and was an expert lepidopterist. They began their married life in an artists’ colony. She knew about choosing a life outside the mainstream. And she also recognized that this was beyond even that.

“I knew something like this would happen,” she said with resignation.

Unearthed: Lady Bledzo (Pt 5)

Catch up with Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4

And just like that, she was gone.

The Windsor Star; Windsor, Ontario; 30 Nov 1927

Lady Bledzo failed to make her two court appearances on Nov. 7, 1927, and seemingly vanished. There were a few casual mentions in newspaper articles reminiscing about her ex-boyfriend, Yellow Kid Weil, but never again was in she in the news for herself, and never again under that name.

It was her curious name that drew me to this story in the first place, and its disappearance convinced me that I could never know her true ending. What I had seen of her life didn’t promise a good finish. I resigned myself to the idea that she probably died somewhere seedy, unknown and alone.

Unearthed: Lady Bledzo (Pt 4)

Catch up with Part 1; Part 2; Part 3

The summer of 1927 had been the peak of drama for Lady Bledzo. As part of her very public lawsuit against ex-fiance Darby Day, Jr., she had appeared in national newspapers. She garnered the support of sympathetic and powerful media. She had provided letters, photos of injuries, and compelling and dramatic testimony about abuse. Lady Bledzo had given it her all.

And yet it failed utterly.

Continue reading “Unearthed: Lady Bledzo (Pt 4)”

Unearthed: Lady Bledzo (Pt 3)

Content warning: This post discusses domestic violence. It includes photos, discussion, and depictions of physical abuse.

Catch up with Part 1 and Part 2

Chicago, 1926

The first half of 1926 was mostly thorns, few roses for Lady Bledzo. In just four short months, her boyfriend (and chief funder) “Yellow Kid” Weil went to prison; she was attacked by his wife; she moved from hotel to hotel; and her face was cut up in a car crash.

Chicago_Daily_News_1926-07-22_4 car crash — Chicago Daily News, July 22, 1926

Whatever Lady Bledzo was trying to achieve in life, this was probably not it.

Continue reading “Unearthed: Lady Bledzo (Pt 3)”

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