Departures of note

Charles Winslow Hall, born Caroline in Malden, Massachusetts, in 1860, spent the last decade of his life living as a man, a fact discovered only upon his death from consumption aboard the steamship Citta di Torino in September 1901. Hall had traveled to Europe at seventeen with his artist mother, studied at the Brera Academy in Milan, and there began wearing the pants and jackets favored by male students. He assumed the name Charles and, with Giuseppina Boriani, traveled for years—first as brother and sister, then as husband and wife. On their final voyage, Boriani was listed as 'Mrs. Charles Winslow Hall' in the ship's manifest.

As the Citta di Torino neared Boston in 1901, Hall fell ill and called for the ship's surgeon, who discovered his chest binding. Both Hall and Boriani begged the surgeon to keep the secret, but he informed the captain. Hall died before the ship reached port, and his body was collected by a cousin upon arrival. The story broke in local newspapers, which described Hall as an eccentric or insane woman masquerading as a man. His family held a private funeral, to which Boriani was invited.

Hall's father attributed his lifestyle to a desire to emulate the lesbian artist Rosa Bonheur. Most close to the story refused to speak to journalists, though Boriani was interviewed via an interpreter. How Hall identified himself is unknown, but at the time of his death he did not wish his female biological sex to be known. Few of his artworks survive; a plaster portrait of the artist Joseph Frank Currier is held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.