From Fritz to Gillita

Recently I posted another card that was sent to Gillita Workman. We know that she worked in the book department at Bullocks in Los Angeles. It appeared that she never married, but she may have been romantically involved with someone named Honoré.

In August 1913, Gillita was staying at the Pension Frank in Partenkirchen, Germany. There she received a peculiar postcard from Fritz Pfaffenzeller, owner of the Oriental Museum in Partenkirchen. The card is addressed to Miss Gillita Workman from Los Angeles, Pension Frank Partenkirchen. The written message says only:  Best Greeting, Fritz Pfaffenzeller. On the other side of the card, he has attached a newspaper clipping.

The newspaper clipping is a death announcement for Adolphus Busch! Here's the English translation:

News of the Day
Adolphus Busch, the American industrial brewer and philanthropist from St Louis, died in Langenschwalbach. Busch was the president of the largest brewery in America, the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Co., as well as many other important ventures. Above all, Busch was a devoted facilitator of American-German understanding. The construction of the Germanic Museum at Harvard University was made possible through his financial support. Busch had an estate in Langenschwalbach and went there every year for a cure.

Langenschwalbach (now known as Bad Schwalbach) has been a spa resort for centuries. Busch's mansion, Villa Lilly, is now used as a drug rehab facility. Anyway, the question that comes to my mind is "Why did Fritz Pfaffenzeller send this to Gillita with no further explanation or note?" I guess we'll never know, but I did find a little more information on Fritz. He was a world traveler and wrote a few travel books. Someone, perhaps Fritz himself, saw fit to print postcards of him on a camel in front of a pyramid in Egypt.  I found this image of one for sale at worldpostcards.com.

Asbestos Letter

Oh, the mystery! Miss Gillita Workman traveled to Europe, where she received postcards care of various pensions and care of Cook and Sons. At home she received cards care of Bullocks, where she worked in the Book Department. Perhaps she had no fixed address. As far as I can tell she never married. The 1930 Census lists her as a boarder at an address in Glendale, California, with an occupation of saleslady in a bookshop.

The front of the card shows a very nice view of Spokane, Washington with building signs and streetcars.

The back of the card, sent in 1920, has a message from Honore Rusner (?) that reads:

Dear Workie

Have oodles to tell you, but must put it in an asbestos letter - when I can.

My address is 

2105 W. Pacific

however and I am

the same.

Honore Rusner

Note: Although I assumed that 'asbestos letter' referred to something to be kept secret, WJY commented below that it is actually archaic slang for a sexually-themed love letter. Presumably asbestos could contain the fire within. WJY also suggests that this may have been a lesbian relationship. The handwriting does look feminine, and although Honoré can be either a man's or a woman's name, it is more often masculine.

Although I have a few postcards addressed to Gillita, I don't have the asbestos letter.