On May 21, 1903, Paul Laurence Dunbar sent two telegrams from Baltimore, Maryland, to his estranged wife Alice in Wilmington, Delaware. Although they separated permanently in January 1902, Paul repeatedly tried to make contact with Alice. Paul and his mother Matilda were living in Chicago, but he was in the East for literary recitals and to conduct some real estate business. Alice was a school teacher in Wilmington.
Will you meet me at station in Wilmington? Wire answer and time to 11 N. Stricker St.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Moore Dunbar, May 21, 1903. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 8).
Leave for West tomorrow. Will you be at station at time convenient? Answer.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Moore Dunbar, May 21, 1903. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 8).
Paul's first telegram was sent at 11:00am and the second at 7:30pm. Also at 7:30, a third telegram was sent from Edmund Taylor (a Baltimore caterer) to Dr. Conwell Banton (a Wilmington physician and member of the Board of Education).
Dr. Conwell Banton,
Please see if Mrs. Dunbar will meet her husband at station tomorrow. Answer.
E. B. Taylor, 11 N. Stricker St.
Edmund B. Taylor to Dr. Conwell Banton, May 21, 1903. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 8).
Paul's direct and indirect efforts to contact Alice were unsuccessful, as he described in a discouraged letter to Matilda.
I telegraphed Alice from Boston, I wrote her from Boston, I wrote from New York, sent two telegrams from here. No answer. Then we wired a friend to ask her if she would see me at the Wilmington station. Her reply was "no." She is the cruelest brute that God ever made and I hope never to make another advance to her. I have wasted my time and money to no avail.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Matilda Dunbar, May 24, 1903. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 2).