Show 7 1 Dismal End of Mrs SiV Brittendall s Su r in Effort to Lead tc r rJ h the Mans Man's Life She Sher r t- t Learned Years off ep V i Ago to Prefer Fy oi San Quentin prison to which Mrs tendall was sentenced after she VIO- VIO VIOlated vio- vio v a t toted the terms of her parole by re x r I suming a male attire I I 1 was the charge on which 1 H FORGERY r r Mrs Edna Brittendall was re- re recently recently re-L re of from fro given given-a given a sentence one to fourteen years in San Quentin Prison but that word does not tell tel tell the whole remarkable truth about why she became a l law w breaker and is now a con con- convict convict vict What at drove Mrs Brittendall to forge tw two checks was her deep hatred of her womanhood and her effort to occupy a aman's aman's mans man's place in the world dress world dress as a aman aman aman mans man's name and earn cam a liv- liv living liv living man bear a ing for for herself and her two children by doing a mans man's work For more than six years ears she succeeded in doing this So completely did she sink her identity in the role of a man that when her secret was finally revealed and she was compelled to discard her hermen's hermen's hermens hermen's mens men's clothes and give ghe up her mans man's job jobI she was unable to provide for herself and her ller daughters The financial necessity necessity necessity I sity forced on her by her return 1 to the dress and life of a woman drove droYe her to forgery and the prison sentence was the result But even the laws law's severe punishment has not cured Mrs Brittendall of her hatred of b hr her r womanhood Just fust before the grim gates of San Quentin closed on her she said Next Ned to the from my chil- chil children chil children dren the tho h h thin about this prison sentence is that while Im I'm in San Quen Quen- Quentin tin Quen-tin tin I mus must wear e hateful skirts and do t r womans woman's Mrs frs Brittendall's strange masquerade II a a man came to light last spring in in Los Angeles when she was arrested as a result of an argument over payment of ofa ofa ofa a garage bill At that time going under the name of Paul Sirod she was supposed by her neighbors and employers by every every- everybody everybody body who knew her to be a man With her two little daughters Pauline and Doris she lived in a modest bungalow I and was regularly employed as a car car- carpenter carpenter car carpenter penter on nearby construction jobs Things Things were going nicely in the theD Sirod home until the bill D garage con con- controversy controversy con controversy arose Irritated by the delay in getting his money the garage owner filed charges against Mr Sirod that caused the latter's arrest On arrival at the county jail the mas mas- masculine mas- mas masculine masculine culine looking figure attired in trousers blue shirt and soft felt hat with closely cut hair startled the hard-boiled hard jailer and his ass assistants stants by calmly announcing that this was not a man at all but a woman Mrs Mrs Brittendall Investigation proved the truth truth of what she said and she was locked up in the women's section sec sec- section sec section tion of the jail instead l lof of the mens men's to which she would have been sent but for her surprising confession Mrs Brittendall was released after a night in jail the charges against her be- be be being ing lug dropped but one nights night's imprison imprisonment ment was enough to upset her whole scheme of life It had unmasked her real identity and she was no longer Mr rr Sirod to her neighbors or the contractor for whom had she had been working her Despite explanations that she had assumed ass med a a 8 mans man's role because she was better able to earn a livelihood in that way than by working as a woman and that she had done a mans man's work ever since her childhood she found jobs steadily more difficult to get geL Employers were reluctant to pay her er a mans man's wages and expect a mans man's share share of work from her when they knew she was a woman Affairs grew worse and worse until Mrs Brittendall again found herself in jail this time with a charge of forgery lodged against her She had forged forged two checks cheeks checks one for 10 and the theother theother other for 6 G J And oddly enough the complaint set forth th that t one ono of the fo forged d checks check had hadi i F F i r 1 x w r d re eP D Df f s 's e i sq x aC r w 15 5 7 f T W WS Wy Wt S y t o eK My a S d x f eL 47 j 4 3 M Mrs Brittendall and he her danh daughters Pauline and Doris Don who until unU recently called he her daddy 5 n Mrs Edna Brittendall in one of the feminine coso cos r sher fumes she declares she dk s S 'S would never wear if she had her way On the r x left as she looked when she was doing a mans man's Z work w 0 r k kand and d deceiving been presented in payment for a pair of knickerbockers and a belt A problem to puzzle a Solomon confronted con con- confronted fronted Judge Edwin F Hahn Icahn when Mrs Brittendall's case came before him for trial Here was a woman who had slaved and drudged at the most arduous of mens men's tasks for six years to m make ke a liv- liv living living liv living ing for her two girls She was was getting along very well until the exposure brought about through Tier her first arrest had robbed her of her means of liveli liveli- livelihood livelihood livelihood hood At last she had been driven to forgery The judge finally announced that since this was a first fint offense he would admit Mrs Britt Brittendall t to probation and give her another chance that provided provided she would agree to give up n masquerading masquerading ing ing as a man But your honor pleaded her her attorney attorney attorney ney this woman cant can't earn a living as asa asa asa a woman Her years of hard manual toil have robbed her of the ability to perform the gentler tasks common io to her herseL sex seL Unless she dresses like a man and works as a c carpenter her children will starve stane On the strength of of this argument Judge withheld Hahn final judgment and postponed the case until a court officer had had an opportunity to make a more thorough investigation In fn the meantime Mrs Brittendall having held in the county jail was having her first experience in years with skirts ald and thinking she really was a manthe man manthe the other distinctive features of women's dress And she didn't enjoy it a bit I am used to working out of doors wielding heavy tools she complained To have to putter around with a dust cloth and mop is almost worse than be- be being being be being ing in jail I hate skirts They wind around my legs so I cant can't walk Here I have to wear the dress prescribed for women prisoners but I cant can't make a living a as as a woman on the too outside My whole life is against me Ive I've always done a mans man's work I dont don't see how I can change now When her case came up for final set set- settlement settlement set settlement the judge announced that on the favorable report of the probation officer he would rule as he had in the first that place place that the prisoner should be released on probation provided she to put on women's clothing and cease posing as liS a man Mrs Irs Brittendall thought of the future of her two little girls and agreed to the terms of her release That was early last fall A few months elapse and the scene is again in the court room with Mrs Brit Brit- Brittendall Brittendall Brit Brittendall tendall once more before the bar of jus justice tice She is charged with violation of her parole by resuming masculine raa culine garb The judge listens to her plea that she could not earn cam her living unless she lI If nt I M br b t dressed as a man but he does doeg not feel that this was A j sufficient justification for forS- forS violating the terms of hex her 0 parole He sentences her herto herto herto to a term of one to four to-four four four- fourteen fourteen teen years in San Quentin Prison Led to the matrons matron's room of the jail Mrs Britten Brittendall laIl was made to take off her beloved male attire and put ut on the hated garments of womanhood When an interviewer mentioned the stoicism with which she had accepted her fate she smiled and said I learned that from my six years as asa asa asa a man To know my position and understand my atti attitude ude toward life you OU must know something of my early life and some some- something something something thing of my married life When I was a mere slip of a girl thirteen years of age to be exact exact I found my lot cast on a barren tree tree- tree covered d Arkansas farm My father had haddi di died d mother had remarried and all the money that had been left her had been invested in this desolate hillside farm My mother was not strong enough to todo todo todo do a mans man's work and our poverty poverty- stricken poverty stricken condition made it necessary for forme forme forme me to shoulder a mans man's burden to help my stepfather There were trees to be sawed down and stumps to be blasted before we could hope to reap any har har- harvest harvest harvest vest from the land There on that Arkansas farm with witha a hovel for a home I first learned to do doa doa doa a mans man's work I plowed sawed trees and pulled stumps until Iwas I was as strong as any man of my age When I was seventeen Ernest Brit Brit- Brittendall Brit Brittendall tendall suggested marriage Ho He was the only man who ever had evinces evinced evinced any in- in interest interest in interest terest in me We were to live l lve ve on his ranch in Colorado As I looked at my dingy piece one calico dress or cast off cast overalls and heavy brogans and thought of the terrible life we had been leading trying to dig a living from our barren farm I regarded his proposal as a way out of my plight We were married but when we ar- ar ar IM 1 rived at our destination I found to my great disappointment that my new home was to be a dugout little if any better than the hovel I had just left Then came further disillusionment My Dry husband informed me that I was to torun torun torun run this acre SOD ranch while he went away for six months at a time to work as a cn carpenter It was disappointing but I tried to tobe tobe tobe be brave I pitched in and did every every- everything everything everything thing there thero was to be done and anyone any one who vho has run a ranch ranch knows knows that includes a lot of hard bard tasks When my first baby Pauline was born my hands were so hardened and calloused and stiff that I couldn't hold a needle to sew for her A second baby died The doctor said the hard work I had done had caused its death Things went on that way foran- foran for an another other year ear or so 80 and my third child Doris was born Shortly after that we moved to Trinidad Colorado but my husband had no work and we were stricken poverty poverty I liedwith tied lied with the two children from the pitiful shack we called home one night after my husband had threatened us and went to the home of a friend Mrs ter Fos ter whose husband Thomas Thomas Foster postmaster had dieda died a short time be- be before before be before fore When I told Mrs Mra Foster oster who had three little boys that I was going away she wanted to go with us That night as ns L 1 thought back Lack over the years of my life of drudgery at mens men's tasks the idea of the masquerade came to me While Mrs Fost Foster r held a alamp alamp alamp lamp I cut off my long hair put on the clothes of her husband and set out on my career career as a man It was agreed that Mrs Foster was to become my wife I was to be the father and md head of the tho family of five to divert suspicion We managed to slip out of Trinidad and with the five children landed in Sheridan Wyoming broke and hungry I put my family in a hotel and set out outto outto outto to look for work My first job W S was with witha a bunch of foreigners on a street gang 1 4 co swinging a sledge hammer in the hot sun I I went home happy that first day despite the the- fact that every muscle in my body ached and throbbed with painI pain I had 6 6 ip in my pocket and that bought food for our first meal Mrs lifts Foster got work and we sepa sepa- separated separated separated rated I going on to California with the two girls My career there was a continuation of my masquerade I first found work as a ranch manager at Hayward and was happy there for a year Then the ranch was sold and I went back to Oakland where Mrs Foster arid and her ber boys joined me For several years I worked at nt what what- whatever whatever ever mens men's work vork I could find Most of the time I was empl employed in hi hia a soap fac- fac factory fac factory tory Never was my identity questioned I never let Jet down in my erade even around and came to enjoy the therole therole therole role I had assumed Then my husband learned of my years whereabouts During thes these these first four years of my masquerade I had gone under the name of Ray Sargent After the Red Cross and Welfare League had investigated my case and heard my story I discarded my my my disguise and tried to become Mrs Brittendall mother again 4 But I had no occupation My life life- lifetime life lifetime time of work at mens men's tasks ranch ranching ing jag carpenter work trucking soap soap snaking make mak making ing and and similar tasks had disqualified me for a womans woman's work Consequently I disappeared from Oakland and moved to Los La Angeles reo re- resuming re resuming suming my masquerade erade I tooka took a new name using Paul the first part of my oldest girls girl's name for my first fast name and reversed the letters in Doris Dori my other girl for my last name I did not find things was easy but I as getting along and earning a livelihood for my girls This trouble arose arose arose I tried lard hard to live up to to- to the ruling of the judge but found it an impossible task Now I mu must must lt pay the the- penalty of the law S Si i i i r |