100 years ago in the society pages: Elizabeth Poindexter’s column was ruffling D.C. feathers yet again

Elizabeth Gale Poindexter, syndicated columnist from Spokane, riled up Washington DC society once again.

She wrote the following: “California has an unattached man – Senator Shortridge is on the unattached list, and is consequently much sought after by the fair sex. Illinois has a bachelor in her delegation, Senator McKinley, who was in the House for many years.”

The only problem? Shortridge and McKinley were both married.

“Friends of the two senators have been busy the last week explaining that both of the senators are married, and have been married for many years, and have never sailed under false colors,” The Spokesman-Review wrote. “… Senator Shortridge’s friends exploded with considerable violence when shown the newspaper.”

The S-R, which carried the Poindexter column, observed that the wife of former Sen. Miles Poindexter “enjoys a rather wide reputation for the faculty of always placing her foot dangerously near the bean pot.” With this column, she had Washington society all “het up” again.

The story about the controversy was on the front page. Meanwhile, in the S-R’s Society section, Poindexter’s new column sported the headline, “Senator’s Life No Snap, Declares Mrs. Poindexter.”

She did not mention the “bachelor” debacle – she may not even have known about it, since she was writing from Peru, where her husband was the ambassador.

She did, however, remark that “recreation is an essential part of the senator’s day,” but she didn’t mean romantic recreation. She meant golf and horseback riding, as the most popular methods of alleviating the stresses of the job.