Tilden had returned home early and, forgetting his key, had entered the house through an open window. The servant, who had been recently hired and believed this to be uncharacteristic of his employer, locked Tilden in his room, and Tilden attempted to alert others that he was trapped by hammering on the door. The frightened servant then called for the police, who took Tilden away to a mental hospital. Between 1915, when he contributed Modern Civilization, a frieze for the Panama–Pacific Exposition of 1915, and 1925, when he began work on the unfinished The Bridges, Tilden lost interest in creating art. After separating from his wife Bessie in 1918, Tilden moved into his studio and worked for the Hal Roach Studio, sculpting animals for movie sets. After their divorce was finalized in 1926, Tilden became reclusive, eating little and sculpting by candlelight until friends discovered his hardships and secured a state pension for him. The Bridges was an allegory celebrating the joining of two cities, planned to commemorate the completion of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, but he died before it was completed. Personal life On June 9, 1896, Tilden was married to Elizabeth "Bessie" Cole, a former student of his, also deaf. Although the union produced two children, a daughter Gladys (born January 5, 1900) and a son Willoughby Lee (born September 4, 1903), it was not to prove to be a happy one. Over the years Mrs. Tilden was subject to "melancholia spells" which, among other things, placed a large amount of pressure on the relationship. They separated and Mrs. Tilden, who for years had managed their properties, rented out his studio to a theater group, forcing Tilden to do his sculpting in a shed. As they grew farther apart Tilden's lawyer wrote: "Furthermore, the wife (Bessie) has knowledge of indiscressions in the personal conduct of Mr. Tilden which would deprive him of any capacity to stand in court, as we say, "with clean hands." Mr. Tilden claims that Mrs. Tilden has been indiscrete ." The couple separated in 1918, and Bessie subsequently filed for divorce in 1924, which was finalized in 1926. The 'indiscreetness' in that era might have referred to his romantic relationships with men. One man in particular, Theophilus Hope d'Estrella, another Deaf artist, was his romantic interest, as described in Tilden's diaries. These diaries were researched from Gallaudet University and Fremont School for the