Capitola News, 113 Years Ago Today: Man Marries Below His Pedigree

On this date (Nov. 18) in 1898, the San Francisco Call (now the San Francisco Examiner) published the article pasted below in its Vol. 84, No. 171.

The article is a crystal-clear beacon of the long legacy of celebrity gossip. Paparazzi culture is certainly rampant today, but the article below serves as proof that the common reader was interested in news of torrid affairs and scandalous relationships long before Brangelina became an item. 

It tells the story of a high-society San Francisco business man named Joseph Salz who met a woman named Tudie Graham in the city's gritty Tenderloin neighborhood. Tudie was originally from Capitola and swept Salz away to her hometown after the two married, much to the dismay of Salz' parents. 

Bear with the sweeping language of the first paragraph. The article becomes much more comprehensible after that. For reference, "bacchanalian" means very drunk, and "benedict" refers to a newlywed man who had been a longtime bachelor (think George Clooney, should he ever tie the knot).

Took a Wife from Bohemia: Joseph Salz' Choice Displeases His Family

The lights of Bohemia are dim and the melody of Andalusia is wafted on the night winds in broken and discordant strains. The satellites of the Tenderloin mourn, for a good thing has passed beyond the power of their wiles and fascinations, and the well-filled purse that once was the ready source of many a bacchanalian revel loosens now its string only to supply the needs of the wife.

Joseph W. Salz, thorough-going sport, has joined the army of benedicts. But alas, his union has brought down on him the displeasure of a relentless parent and the cold shoulder and ostracism of society, for he has mated to please himself. Tudie Graham, fascinating Tudie of some twenty-three summers, whose charms, while captivating, are none the less unsavory, because of the gild and glare of the Tenderloin that in the eyes of the strict moralist taints them, has proven the undoing of Salz. The couple were married in this city on the 6th of last October, and are now residing In Capitola, Santa Cruz County. Joe has sold his horses and traps, sent for his personal effects and forever shaken from his feet the dust of the city. The doors of his home have been closed against him.

The story is an old one, but for all that it loses none of its sadness and only sympathy can go out to the parents of the young man. While for himself— well, he or she who is without stain can cast the first stone. Joseph Salz socially is down. "And of course being down should be bereft of hope and friends," for he has transgressed the relentless precepts of society, in that be, a man of education and social standing, has married a woman of the Tenderloin.

Joseph Salz formerly held the secretaryship of the Herman Waldeck Company. He commanded a fine salary and was one of the swell young men about town. Naturally in nightly revels with friends he became a well-known personage to the denizens of the Tenderloin, and in this way it was that he met the fascinating Tudie. She had come to the city from Capitola, and when she met young Salz she made a rapid and complete conquest. For a while the couple are said to have lived at 1364 Webster street, where they had apartments.

The woman's power over the young man seemed to cause him to lose all responsibility and to ignore all his obligations to his home and friends. The breach widened and the doors of his home were closed against him. Then it was that young Salz, blindly determined against all the consequences, flew In the face of the world's disapproval, and as a last resource grappled with honor in the unequal combat and made the woman his wife.

Who knows what may have become of Joseph Salz and Tudie Graham? Did his parents forgive him? Did Joseph and Tudie produce equally rogue children who "mated to please themselves" like their parents?

Does the Salz/Graham name ring a bell? We'd love to know more. Tell us in the comments!