(new to it)
@Malachi-Hudelson
@Reb-Erlik said in Any advice for my “saying goodbye” October prompt?:
Looks like he's wearing casual shirt and jeans under a cape.
I agree that the clothing is hard to read.
I think it's a black band (to denote mourning) on his upper arm (over the sleeve of his suit jacket), like this one:
Since he's wearing a top hat, I assume he's wearing a suit, but Reb-Erlik could be right, and it's a cape. Maybe he's a magician?
If it is a suit, it should have a collar visible, as well as the shirt collar. I think in this period, men's shirt collars were higher, like these:
(from https://www.mimimatthews.com/2016/10/03/a-century-of-sartorial-style-a-visual-guide-to-19th-century-menswear/)
As for the lower half — to me, it looks like tights (like a male ballet dancer would wear), especially since there is no distinction between the pants and footwear. (Except, the curved line that might suggest a pocket wouldn't make sense.)
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I was thinking that people don't usually have the cause of death included on headstones, but after a quick search, I see you are correct & it was a common practice at that time, so good job on that detail!
I think a car accident is plausible, even with the earliest cars. It could have gone off the road, or collided with a carriage or wagon. People have died in carriage accidents, and bicycle accidents. However, according to Google, the first automobile was built in 1885, and the first public outing was in July 1886. (They also weren't widely available until the 1920s, so before that, the owner would have to be rich.)
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The story is pretty simple: A man cries at a funeral. But if it's a magician in a cape, & the woman died in a magic trick accident, that could add more complexity.