Since I had been writing a lot lately about the High Rock Ranch and Springs, I could not resist to pass along the following story. On September 16, 1883 the Susanville correspondent to the Reno Evening Gazette passed along this bit of news:

“That Susanville possesses many advantages, no one who has visited this pretty town will deny. Among those advantages, are the facility with which business is executed here, especially in the line of divorce and matrimony. To illustrate the above, I cite a case that came off here last Friday in the Superior Court. Until that day, one W.T. Bacon was possessed of a wife who had borne him two children, the youngest being a few months old. His residence was at a place called High Rock. Sometime last February, a little unpleasantness occurred which W.T. Bacon did not relish. It seems one J.B. Roberts, being smitten with the female side of Bacon, being qualified, committed adultery with the male Bacon’s wife. Last Friday W.T. Bacon applied for a divorce from his wife, on the grounds of adultery. The woman waived all forms of law, and went to trial immediately. The man—Roberts—came forward and swore to the fact committing the adultery, and the divorce was immediately granted in the afternoon. In the evening between 7 and 8 o’clock, J.B. Roberts and Mrs. Harriet Bacon were united in marriage, the ex-husband being present at the ceremony, keeping the baby quiet during the exercises. Taking it as a whole, it was the largest Bacon transaction here during the week, and causes considerable comment on change.”

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