The Gilded Age actress arrested for the indecent way she rode a horse in Central Park

In the summer of 1895, a young British actress arrived in New York City—and immediately became a media sensation for reasons that had nothing to do with her theatrical skills. “A Real New Woman” blared the headline of a wire report across America. “Miss Dorothy Chestie, the English actress recently arrived in this country, has altogether discarded skirts for daily wear.” Discarded her skirt? Well, it wasn’t as if she walked around her West 22nd Street neighborhood with entirely bare lower body. Chestie (below sketch) simply preferred the physical freedom afforded by bloomers, which in the 1890s were loose trousers that came in at the knee typically worn under a skirt or dress. “Much astonishment has been created in New York during the last fortnight whenever she has appeared in the shopping district in her knickerbocker costumes, and in the elevated and cable cars she has been the center of attraction,” continued the news item. True, some young women—dubbed “new women” for the…