Wanda
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If you were told this story, you would think it was a Shakespearean novel, love, tragedy, death. It has all of the elements but it is an actual true story.
Wanda was born in Warsaw, Poland on May 5, 1900.
She emigrated to the United States with her parents and siblings around 1915.
They decided to live in Chicago, Illinois in a Little Poland neighborhood.
They originally came to the United States to go to the Panama exhibition in San Francisco.
Her father was a clay sculpture modeler, he was considered one of the best and he had modeled some of the buildings in the exhibition.
Her mother came from a prominent Polish family, so Wanda grew up in a rigidly strict but loving home.
Wanda was a quiet girl and she was a bit of a bookworm, always had her head in a book reading or studying.
She would occasionally go to dances or parties but it was always with her mother or one of her brothers.
Wanda graduated from High School at the age of 17, she was top of her class.
In 1920 Wanda was a student at John Marshall College of Law.
While she was in law school the family went for a two-year trip to Poland, but Wanda stayed behind.
While her family was away Wanda moved to a girls’ club on the North side of Chicago, as far as I know that is like a dorm or boarding house specific for women and that’s where she met people in the “Bohemian Community”.
Wanda passed the bar exam, becoming Chicago's youngest and first female assistant U.S. district attorney.
People described her as extremely smart, direct, blunt and to the point but also knew when to and not to show emotions.
Unfortunately in those days, it was hard for women to work and find work in a male dominated industry so Wanda had a hard time finding work as a lawyer. She would get offered work as a secretary or assistant, basically entry level positions.
Many of the law firms had worries that their clients wouldn’t want to be represented by a woman.
In search of a more independent lifestyle, Wanda moved to a Bohemian neighborhood.
The 1920s in North America marked a new decade of freedom and exploration for young people.
The early 1900’s ushered in a new age of sexual expression, which was reflected in the arts.
Challenging society’s standards became something that young people aspired to and their carefree attitudes prompted immediate backlash from the older generations
True to the reputation of the Roaring Twenties, the studio was the site of late night parties and non-traditional lifestyles.
A few months after her graduation, Wanda married a russian man, the press referred to him as several different names"Vlad", "Ted", "Glaskoff","Glaskow" - not much is known about his actual background.
He described himself as a count who lost a fortune in the Russian Revolution but Wanda's brothers portrayed him as a bootlegger and professional gambler.
Her brother said, The so called Count always had a peculiar power over her – a sort of hypnotic influence. She would declare that she hated him, could not endure him, and was going to leave him. But as soon as he came into her presence, all her resistance was gone, and she did whatever he said.
The Count introduced Wanda to radical magazines and taught her new ways of self-expression.
Later, according to Wanda’s family, he introduced her to morphine, which she thought was fun which may have been the start of her substance and alcohol addiction.
It was rumored that The Count got his money from marrying a girl in New York, her father had paid him $10,000, which is around $170,000 today, to annul the wedding. He used this money to set himself up as a Count.
Wanda and the Count would live separate lives soon after marrying.
In 1922, Wanda went to a Studio party and met a middle-aged advertising executive, Kenley.
Kenley was described by his friends as a “Romantic Humanitarian”.
He liked to encourage and help struggling artists and authors.
Kenley took an immediate interest in Wanda, telling his friends that she was the brainiest girl he had ever met and he began supporting her financially.
Wanda fell immediately in love with Kenley.
Kenley was already married to Genevieve, who went by the nickname Doodles; she was a famous symphony pianist. Wanda was also married to the count, she would say marriage was only a “scrap of paper”.
Kenley and Wanda discussed philosophy, art and literature.
Wanda told Kenley that she had always wanted to be an author.
The affair would go on for a couple of years.
When Wanda divorced the Count, she encouraged Kenley to do the same, Kenley refused but the affair continued.
Kenley was getting exhausted juggling his wife, Wanda and what other women he had in his life at the time, he encouraged Wanda to move to New York promising he would continue to support her financially, she lived in New York for a while but would eventually settle in Detroit, Michigan.
Wanda would write letters to Kenley every day.
While in New York, Wanda studied journalism at New York University.
Newspapers and magazines would not hire her, so she turned to writing short stories. The short stories she wrote were mostly about sexual content and no one would buy them.
Finally, she sold a story to a detective magazine, when Kenley found out, he stopped sending money.
Doodles was aware of her husband's affairs over the years, she finally had enough and threatened to leave him if he didn’t break off the relationship with Wanda.
When Kenley broke off the relationship, Wanda was upset and demanded he leave his wife to be with her but of course he refused.
Wanda continued to live the bohemian lifestyle of drinking and partying, she called and threatened Kenley for two years but no one took it seriously and thought Wanda would give up at some point.
On April 24, 1924, Wanda traveled to Kenleys cottage on the outskirts of Chicago.
Wanda took a taxi to the home, she asked the driver to wait saying she would only be a few minutes and that she had a train to catch.
She arrived at Kenley’s home at 8:30 in the morning. Wanda knocked on the door and then rattled the doorknob.
Doodles was in bed sick with the flu. She was expecting a friend to come over to take care of her, so she answered the door expecting her friend.
Wanda was at the door, she asked to see Kenley.
Doodles told her that he was already at the office.
Wanda pointed a gun at Doodles and followed her into the house. Wanda asked how she was going to take care of herself without Kenley’s money, and Doodles told her she needed to find work for herself, she was an attorney and a journalist.
Wanda said that she was too sick to work and that if Kenley didn’t take care of her, he would be dead or blinded.
Henry was Kenley and Doodles' caretaker and gardener, Henry knew Doodles was sick and came to check on her, he came in through the back door and found Wanda pointing a gun at Doodles.
Henry was trying to be the peacemaker and told Wanda she should leave because Doodles had the flu, the spanish flu pandemic ended in 1920. As Henry tried to direct Wanda out the door, there was an explosion and a flash of fire.
Wanda shot Henry.
Doodles reacted by jumping out a nearby window(they were on ground level) and heard another shot, when she peeked in the window, she saw Henry falling to the floor.
Henry was dead. He was 68 years old.
She ran to the next-door neighbors and called the police and then called her husband at the office.
Kenley was at work in downtown Chicago at the time of the shooting and was quickly picked up by the authorities for his protection and for an interview.
Wanda fled the scene, the taxi was waiting for her, Wanda went to the train station and returned to Detroit.
She checked into the Hotel Statler.
Wanda wrote a letter to her mother, it included $150, a 1,000-mark Polish bond, and an insurance policy for $200 with her mother as the beneficiary, $200 would be almost $3600 in todays money.
A hotel clerk noticed the last name on the letter Wanda was sending out and alerted the management.
Unfortunately, it was too late, when the hotel authorities went to the room, Wanda took out a vial of cyanide from her purse, she smiled at them, drank the vial and immediately collapsed.
She was only 23.
When Kenley was told of the suicide he was not surprised. He told authorities for years she threatened to shoot him and then herself.
Two Chicago artists that were friends with Wanda, went to Detroit to accompany the body back to Chicago.
One of the artists described Wanda as “The brainy young attorney who inspired scores of artists and authors with her brilliant conversation and wit.”
The District Attorney’s office sent flowers and sent a representative to the funeral, but neither Kenley or the Count attended.
Only close friends and family attended the funeral in Wanda’s mother’s home which was a Polish service.
Because Wanda had died by suicide the church would not allow the services to be held in church.
Over 10,000 people crowded the streets of Little Poland to see Wanda’s casket carried from her mother’s home in a white hearse to the National Bohemian Cemetery.
Another 5,000 people had waited up to five hours in the hot sun to see the burial.
Street vendors showed up at each venue and had a lot of business.
The dean of the Law School spoke at the burial. He spoke about Wanda’s brilliance and told the crowd that he had never had a student who had greater promise.
Just when you thought the story was over, During the burial, a child started talking and Wanda’s brother walked up to the child and slapped her. The child’s mother, Anna, of course, started to complain, Wanda’s mother slapped Anna three times, breaking her eyeglasses.
Anna had come to visit her son’s grave and had wandered over to see what was going on with all the people gathered.
The security of the cemetery had to separate Anna from Wanda’s family.
Ernest Hemingway was once a tenant and friend of Kenley. After reading of the scandal in the newspaper, Hemingway privately reacted to it with dark amusement.
Like I said, Wanda’s story is a great tragedy of almost Shakespearian proportions.
There are so many “if only’s” in this story…
If Wanda only was able to start a career in law, if only she didn’t fall in love with the wrong men, she most likely had some mental health issues if only she received the help she needed…If only Henry didn’t step in to be the peacemaker
Wanda had it all, so much promise, she was a smart, beautiful, smart woman with a loving family. But she wanted more and became obsessed with one man and then killed an innocent man.
Wanda is buried at the National Bohemian Cemetery.
Henry unfortunately was in the wrong place at the wrong time, he courageously protected Doodles but lost his life in order to save hers.
Henry was buried at Oak Woods Cemetery in Illinois.
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