Eva Centini’s divorce petition made headlines. Her husband John had left her and their six young children in Oakland, California with no intention of returning.

The papers were eager to print Mrs. Centini’s story, especially after she informed them that this wasn’t the first time he had left. In 1908, Centini went to Italy for a month, without telling his wife of his plans. While he was there, he married another woman.

John came back to California, without mentioning the new wife, and resumed his usual habits. Many things are left to the reader’s imagination, including how Mrs. Centini learned of the other woman.

As you might have guessed, the marriage wasn’t a successful one. The Centinis had married in Italy in 1892 and came to California with the plan of making their fortune. Their intention was to return to Italy one day.  But the couple quarreled frequently. According to his wife, John Centini was extremely jealous and paranoid. At times, he accused her of poisoning his food.

The couple started and dropped a number of divorce suits over the years.

In 1911, John left again, this time taking the family’s savings of $8,500 (roughly a quarter of a million dollars in 2025). This time, Centini was courteous enough to leave a letter for his wife. Eva Centini couldn’t have liked what she read. In fact, it was the key piece of evidence she submitted with her divorce petition.

Centini wrote that he was deserting his wife because he was afraid if he stayed any longer, he would kill her.  “I would have stabbed you a thousand times and then set your body afire if I had remained. I went away in order not to kill you, and it may be I am doing a great wrong in not killing you.”

On March 20, 1912, the courts finalized the Centini divorce.

 

I love stories that include personal letters, which is how I happened to read this story. But something about this tale doesn’t add up for me.  The letter John left behind doesn’t match the circumstances Eva Centini described. Everything we know of her husband–his jealousy and paranoia–comes through her. We have only her word that he left his family destitute for another woman and that he took their savings.

We can only divine John’s side of the story by his letter, but that seems to indicate he left his wife because he hated her.  Jealous men don’t typically run away from the women they’re obsessed with, do they?

What do you think? Am I too critical of Mrs. Centini’s story?