Walter Parrish (1876-1918): Husband at Center of Courtroom Brawl Over Divorce

 

San Francisco Call rendering of courtroom brawl

Walter Noble Parrish lived a conventional civic life for his era, serving in key government roles and moving through the city without attracting much historical attention. His name survives not because of any great achievement or notorious failing, but because a single day in 1899 thrust him and his family into one of the most chaotic divorce hearings the city had seen. It was one of the few moments in his life that history bothered to record in any detail.

Walter married Maud Shafer with expectations of a quiet domestic life. Maud had hoped for something more. She longed for travel and adventure, believing her husband’s family connections in South America might open opportunities to see the world. Instead, she found herself confined to a routine existence in San Francisco, a marriage marked—according to her later testimony—by neglect, drinking, and disappointment. What Walter regarded as ordinary married life, she experienced as a suffocating restraint.

Their marriage unraveled in Judge Hebbard’s courtroom, where Maud sought a divorce and Walter resisted the accusations. What should have been a contained proceeding erupted almost instantly into mayhem. Maud’s mother, Mrs. D. M. Shafer, arrived already strained by months of marital discord and, upon hearing heated arguments about who had struck whom earlier in the day, suddenly lunged at her son-in-law. Striking Walter in the face, she ignited a chain reaction that sent the room into complete disorder.

The elderly Parrish father tried to intervene and was himself pulled into the commotion. Women screamed and fainted. Witnesses shoved one another. Clerks, litigants, and reporters found themselves scrambling out of the way as the chaos spilled into the hallway. Walter, his family members, Maud’s supporters, and even uninvolved citizens in the corridor were swept into a tangle of pushing, shouting, and blows before police and the bailiff could begin pulling people apart.

The violence continued outside the courtroom. Parrish’s father was hurled against a railing. Mrs. Shafer hurled insults and threats at Walter, going so far as to shout, “You coward! You are afraid of me—and right you are, for I will be revenged!” More women fainted as the commotion grew. Judge Hebbard emerged briefly from his chambers, saw the disorder, and retreated again until the officers restored some degree of control.

When the testimony resumed, Maud accused her husband of drunkenness, neglect, and cruelty. Walter denied it all. The judge ultimately refused to grant the divorce, determining that Maud had failed to meet the legal threshold required for dissolution. But the ruling did not seal the fate of the marriage in practice. Maud had already had enough.

Maud's 1921 passport photo and 1941 Brazilian travel visa

Not long after the court denied her petition, she left her husband, her parents, and San Francisco behind. Without telling a soul, she boarded a ship for Nome, Alaska, carrying little more than a banjo and the determination to reclaim her life. What had been denied her in marriage—movement, independence, possibility—she seized for herself with startling resolve.

In the Yukon, she supported herself by performing in mining towns with her banjo, and from there she began to travel the world. In 1939 she published her memoir, "Nine Pounds of Luggage," recounting her extraordinary path from a failed San Francisco marriage to a life defined by curiosity and adventure. In the book, she tells of working as a saloon girl in the Klondike, running gambling dens in China, and exploring places like South America, India, and Nazi Germany, all while carrying minimal belongings. She claimed to have circled the globe sixteen times and lived to the age of 98. Maud never remarried and is buried at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California.

Oakland Tribune picture of Walter Parrish and Gravesite

Walter Parrish ended up working as the Deputy County Clerk in San Joaquin County, as a deputy in the San Joaquin County courts and by 1911 he was Secretary of the California State Senate. He rests today at Mountain View Cemetery. 

Sources: San Francisco Call, January 31, 1899; Wikipedia: Maud Parrish; Kirkus Reviews on Nine Pounds of Luggage: Brazilian Embassy; US Passport Agency; Wikipedia; Find a Grave; Oakland Tribune, January 25, 1911