I would have to admit that I do find Eugenia Falleni (ca. 1875-1938) on this photo rather masculine in looks. Actually, I wouldn't be the least surprised at hearing that she in reality was a man, and not a woman in anything but name. However, I would be wrong, because at some time around 1900 Eugenia Falleni gave birth to a daughter which, neither then nor now, is a male ability. (And, by the way, I don't think anybody know who the father of that child was.) Anyway, in her early youth, after her family had moved from Italy to New Zealand, she was nicknamed "Tallyhoe" because she somehow "swaggered like a man" and even cross-dressed.
Here Eugenia is as her alter ego, Harry Leo Crawford, who is how she presented herself to the world some time after the birth of her daughter. Not only did she attain a male personality, but, 39 years old, she also married a woman, the widow Annie Birkett, in 1913. Annie was the mother of a boy who came to take part in the fate of the two women.
Annie Birkett
The marriage didn't last that long as Annie suddenly disappeared in a very mysterious manner. What happened? Nobody knew, but as Eugenia/Harry remarried after the disappearance of Annie, who was found dead and maybe even burnt in a cove some time after she disappeared, Eugenia was accused of having murdered her. Something she denied having done. In her first appearance in court she was still dressed as a man, but later on she once again started to dress as a woman.
The "Man-Woman-Case" as it was named became widely known and debated everywhere, but without any real understanding of the Eugenia-Harry-enigma. What was she, did she murder Annie and why did she dress as a man??? Discussions were not bringing any solution to the many enigmas, and Eugenia was sentenced to death for the presumed murder of Annie, but, in reality, maybe also for "falsifying her sex". However, strangely enough she was released in 1931 "because of ill health" and went on with her life, now going by the gender-neutral name of "Jean Ford". In 1938 she died in an accident, but her life is still being discussed by many people who want to find explanations of her and her fate. Nobody has succeeded in that yet, and it may never happen. Some part of the confusion may be her second wife's claim that she never suspected that the individual she knew as her husband was in reality a woman. The claim of the new wife seems a bit far-fetched as the daughter of Eugenia must have been well-known in the society as she testified in the trial of 1920, saying that her mother had always dressed as a man.
To me it looks like Eugenia was a lesbian, but most likely so was her two wives. All of them chose this "Gender Game" to be able to live a life that was good for them in a society that wasn't too happy about people who didn't really fit in .
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