In 1915, a Philadelphia woman appeared in court charged with attempting suicide. The judge discharged Margaret Reeves without penalty – but not before giving her a stern talking to:

“A woman with a husband, a family and a home should be too busy to think about suicide,” was the gist of the lecture that Magistrate Harris gave to Mrs Reeves, of 87th Street and Laycock Avenue. Early in the week she attempted to end her life. She is the fifth wife of James Reeves, 65 years old, a mail clerk on the Pennsylvania Railroad.”

Source: The Washington Herald, August 9th 1915. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.