February 14, 1913, visited Detention Court. Man was sent to Kankakee [insane asylum]. After sentence was pronounced woman and Mary were hysterical; said they had never wanted him to go and they would not leave the court unless he was released. Woman’s cousin told Mr. Moore that Mary is not working ... and that she is making her mother’s life miserable. Mary ... begins to show something of her father’s temperament.... The child’s confidence has never been gained. She has always taken her father’s side, and her mother is worried over her as she feels she is untrustworthy, is rouging her cheeks and not coming home directly from her work. She is a woman whose enjoyment of household possessions is undiminished by the miseries of her domestic experience, as is a natural coquetry which she has always possessed. We believe that this is an innocent attribute and that all her husband’s accusations of infidelity are the suspicions inevitably resulting from sexual obsession in a man otherwise unoccupied for 20 years. He has, undoubtedly, a diseased mind.
April 3, 1913, woman says that Mary did not go to work today as the paint made her sick. Asked that we call up the firm and verify this. Mary had been to Miss Farrell to get suit which had been promised her, but failed to see Miss Farrell and insisted upon getting a coat for which she agreed to pay $8 on the installment plan. An agent came to the house to collect for this and Mary behaved so badly, screaming and crying, that woman finally paid him $2. Mary now has the suit from Miss Farrell and woman wishes to return the coat, but she refuses to do so. [Mary discharged from present position because it was proved she stole from one of the girls. Mary refused to take housework offered her.]
June 9, 1913, woman in office in great distress; says Mary has not worked at all at the hat factory [as she had pretended].... Has been going with a girl who worked there. The girls say the employer is an evil man and showed them a check book and said they could draw what they liked.... Mary [refused to let him kiss her but] stole this check book and on the 29th forged a check for $12 which she brought her mother saying it was her pay. On the 2nd she forged another check for $11; $6 of this she gave to her mother and $5 she spent at Riverview Park....
July 29, 1913.... Probation officer says Mary lost her job on the 25th, that one of the girls had loaned Mary a ring and when the time came for Mary to restore it, Mary could not find it.... [A report from Kankakee that Meyer had escaped was followed by a letter saying] “he escaped one evening but returned of his own free will at bedtime and has since been residing in the Institution.”...
January 17, 1914, Mary brought home $6 on the 14th but insisted upon $4 being returned to her, and with this she bought a very elaborate hat of black velvet and gold lace. Talked with Mary. She was very defiant and said that she would spend her money on clothing until she had something to wear. Was not satisfied with the coat that United Charities had given her from second-hand store. Said she would keep her money until she could buy a new-style coat. Told her that if she did so the United Charities would not help with food.
January 22, 1914, Mrs. Meyer in tears. The forelady at the shop where Mary works telephoned that Mary had gotten married in court today.... Mary gave the date of her birth as December 18, 1895 [instead of 1896] and signed the affidavit herself....
January 30, 1914, visited. Asked Mrs. Meyer to take a position.... Suggested Mary could stay and take care of the children.... Mary was at first very unwilling to consent to the plan. While the visitor was there Mr. Andersen [her husband] came in. He agreed to the plan at least temporarily.
February 4, 1914, Mrs. Meyer in office. Says the work is too hard at the present situation and she is not earning enough to feed the children. Mary has had to give her money and she is ashamed and sorry. She feels too nervous to work and wants United Charities to get Mr. Meyer out of asylum to support her. Jennie, her niece, took her to visit him and she found him nicely dressed and sober, doing teaming work. He promised never to drink and to support the family.
A letter written by the United Charities June 16, 1914, states “We have found her this spring in a peculiar mental condition due, we think, to sheer discouragement and a feeling of having been defeated in life. All of her home furnishings are dilapidated and of long usage, because of her inability to replace them. She has been a woman who always took a peculiar delight in her home and longed to have it furnished daintily so that it did not compare so poorly with the homes where she has worked. We feel now that if we might help her replenish her linen and some of her household supplies we might be able to tide over their period of discouragement and help her to feel that life was again worth living....”
August 19, 1914, Mrs. Meyer and Mary in office. [Mary very well dressed and living in her own apartment.] Mary says she has been helping her mother continually with food and clothing. Her husband makes $19 a week but she has to pay $17 rent and $5 a week for her furniture. She also has to save money because she is now several months pregnant. Her husband wishes her to have a doctor. She is planning to have a midwife because it is cheaper. Advised her not do this.... During a period of unemployment for her husband she refused to seek aid at her mother’s suggestion as she felt too proud....