Author Patrick Gallagher On Fantasies And How They Played A Part In ‘TIL DEATH DO US …’

Many young men have fantasies about older women.  It is a rite of growing up.  When I was in my late teens, I was very enamored with my Aunt Cecelia – despite the fact that she was older than my own father!  Of course, these are just fantasies and we outgrow them.  Nothing comes of them.

Usually.

However, occasionally a young man actually does become involved with a much older woman, and the result is often not pretty.  Such a young man was Alvin Lee Williams.  Alvin was only 23 years old, and indeed he was a fairly naïve 23-year-old.  His primary ambition was to be a cowboy, and he even won some rodeo events.  But that didn’t stop him from noticing the boss’s wife, Gladys Broadhurst, who was forty years old.  Not quite old enough to be his mother, but darn close to it.

Imagine Alvin’s surprise when Gladys and the boss, Dr. Willis D. Broadhurst, actually asked him to serve as her chauffeur for a trip from Idaho to Sacramento, California.  At first Alvin declined, not at all sure how this was going to go.  This just seemed a little too uncomfortable for him.  But both the Doctor and Gladys urged him to take the job, saying it would only be for ten days, two weeks at the most.  Finally, Alvin agreed to take on the job.

In his wildest dreams, Alvin would never have imagined how this trip would turn out — even on the first night.  And on every night after that!  Neither did he dream how long the trip would actually last.  But, in his own words, he said, “I wasn’t complaining any.”            

The book ‘TIL DEATH DO US . . .’  A True Story of Bigamy and Murder by Patrick Gallagher gives all the details of this lurid story.  It gives the background on the Doctor, on Gladys, and on Alvin, and it gives the full details of the relationships among the three of them.  It provides the facts behind the story that ultimately leads to one of the most sensational murder trials in Oregon history, which indeed was followed in newspapers across the nation.  Read the book which accounts for this story, which took place in 1946 and 1947.  Once you begin, the facts are spellbinding.  Don’t miss the chance to read this fascinating history, written by the grandson of the lead defense attorney.