Salt Lake Telegram | 1905-10-20 | Page 1 | Woman Dons Male Garb to Secure Employment

WOMAN DONS MALE GARB TO SECURECMPLOYMENT CHICAGO. Oct. 20. Attired In masculine mascu-line garb, Augusta Helvey, a young married woman, sought work for four days In the downtown district, mingling with scores of rival male applicants and passing unobserved in the throngs on the cause of the failure of Miss Helvey's plans. As It flashed by a downtown corner, a policeman leaned forward to catch the number. The woman, in coat and trousers, was In its path. She shrieked as she leaped aside Into a mud-puddle and made a motion as If to gather up her flowing skirts. Then the youth moved a hand to his hat as . if to adjust it. The patrolman waited no longer. He had missed the number of the automobile, auto-mobile, but he took the "boy" to the station. main streets. Today she would have begun work as a male waiter in a downtown restaurant had not an observant ob-servant policeman noted a characteristically characteris-tically feminine move and manner in the youth. The policeman took the "suspect" to the police station, where the young woman wo-man admitted her disguise and declared de-clared she has assumed the garb In order or-der to secure employment in which living liv-ing wages could be obtained. Earned Bare Living. In St. Louis, the girl said, she had worked as a waitress and had been able to barely earn a scant living, while her clothing had been worn to shreds. Unable to replenish it she had taken from a trunk a suit of clothing once worn by her husband and had determined deter-mined that henceforth she would pass as a man and endeavor to earn the wages given the male worker. Thrown on Her Own Resources. The woman Is 26 years old and resides re-sides In Falrburx. Neb. When little more than a girl she came to Chicago, where she was married to Richard Vaughan. It Is said, a city employee. Vaughan soon secured a divorce, it is said, and his wife again assumed her maiden name. She was thrown upon her own resources and learned It was. difficult for' a woman to earn a good livelihood. She told the police that she was subjected to continual annoyances. Tried to Gather Up Skirts. A speedily driven automobile was the