I regret to inform you that today’s gossip is tainted by melancholy, as we have lost the great Myrtle Wilson, married to George B. Wilson. She was seen running out into the road, narrowly avoiding being hit by one vehicle, just to stumble right into the path of another, and the evil driver didn’t even bother to stop!
This raises the question, was this just a very unfortunate accident, or are we dealing with pre-meditated murder? Who in their right mind would strike a woman and not pull over? A coward, a drunk, or an enemy.
An anonymous man shared his description of the vehicle with police that same day.
“It was a yellow car, big yellow car. New… Going faster’n forty. Going fifty, sixty.” – Anonymous
(Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Chapter 7).
The accident happened just outside of her husband’s workplace, with the sign: Repairs. George B. Wilson. Cars bought and sold. Her husband witnessed the harrowing aftermath of this horrible end for Mrs. Wilson. The police described her most obvious injuries for the newspapers, take this as your warning for the faint of heart.
“When they had torn open her shirtwaist, still damp with perspiration, they saw that her left breast was swinging loose like a flap, and there was no need to listen for the heart beneath. The mouth was wide open and ripped a little at the corners, as though she had choked a little…” – N.C.
(Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Chapter 7).
Myrtle Wilson had her fair share of scandals that would lead to some enemies, including a rumored affair with a very well-known husband within East Egg, one I have mentioned in prior columns, but due to the legality of such, this man will remain directly unnamed…
One cannot help but hypothetically assume that this man may be a cause for suspect, or perhaps his darling wife, allegedly committing the crime in a fit of jealousy for her husband’s shared attention.
Nevertheless, we will all grieve the loss of Myrtle Wilson and console the surviving widower George Wilson. Even gossip has its limits.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. eBook #64317. Project Gutenberg, January 17, 2021, online.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/64317/64317-h/64317-h.htm
