Coronel Mansion (LAPL Digital Archive)
If you’re a faithful reader of this blog, you’ve already met Antonio Coronel, 19th century L.A. mayor and leading citizen extraordinaire. Now it’s time to meet his widow Mariana, courtesy a news item carried by the Los Angeles Times 110 years ago this month.
Entitled The Coronel Mansion, the May 2, 1899, piece reports the courtroom drama stirred up by Doña Mariana Coronel (nee Williamson) who, after a “brief widowhood” following Antonio’s death, married Dr. C. Edgar Smith. The article reveals how Dr. Smith immediately “made himself at home with his new wife in the Coronel mansion” only to find that “the spacious house would not hold them both after they began to quarrel.”
Ahhh, but things get even juicier…
“Señora Smith went on an extended journey to Mexico, leaving her spouse to enjoy himself as best he could in the big mansion at Seventh street and Central avenue. The doctor is alleged to have had a more or less merry time while his wife was away.”
The Coronels (LAPL Digital Archives)
Understandably miffed upon her return, Mariana tried to eject the good doctor from the house, but a legal obstacle stood in her way: She’d already deeded the mansion to Smith to elude ongoing litigation surrounding her former hubby’s estate.
With Smith refusing to budge, the clever Mariana embarked on a new strategy. First she leased the house to ex-Under Sheriff H.S. Clement, who promptly took up residence in the home and dislodged the doctor himself. Then she filed both for divorce and repossession of the property. Testifying in court in early May 1899, she shored her case up with what the Times describes as “tense” and “highly sensational” accounts of her new husband’s dalliances with female patients.
But Mariana Williamson Coronel de Smith wasn’t to have the last word in the matter. Stung by the assaults on his character, Dr. Smith apparently asked the court’s indulgence while he embarked on his own Mexican excursion to get the dish on Mariana’s recent escapades there. Meanwhile, the Times article milked the lull in the proceedings for all it was worth, promising:
“His answer in the suit now pending is expected to be as sensational, in many respects, as his wife’s charges.”
Source:
“The Coronel Mansion”
Los Angeles Times
May 2, 1899
