The Incident of the Speeding Car

Sioux City Journal, 1 Aug 1921

Mary Isabelle Cox appeared in the Sioux City news in August 1921 in a strange incident with William G. Irvine and several of his friends. From the article above, it reads as if Mary was thrown from a speeding car (not far from the location in the postcard shared in the previous post). In 1921, William was working as a photographer and manager of the Van Dyke Studio in Sioux City. It isn't clear from the article what Mary was doing in Sioux City, but it does list her address as 1507 Douglas Street. The incident was picked up in another Iowa newspaper, which ran the story on 4 August 1921.

Quad City Times, 4 Aug 1921

The local Sioux City paper carried a follow-up story on the case, as Mary defended William in court later that week.

Sioux City Journal, 3 Aug 1921

Whatever actually happened, this incident brought the two of them together. Mary next appears in the records as a photographer, working at the Van Dyke Studio in Sioux City. This is in the 1923 City Directory, published in January 1923, so this probably reflects Mary's employment and address in 1922, before she and William went off to Salt Lake City to be married in November 1922.

They next moved to Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, where William and Mary opened the Irvine Studio. They appear in the 1930 US Census there, with William listed as a photographer and owner of a studio, and Mary as assistant in the photo studio. They operated the Irvine Studio for several years, and after some international travel, they moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, where William acquired the Schultz Studio. More on their time in St. Joseph will be covered in the next post.