The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-08-18
DR.. Aldrioh Exnosed.

this city nave discussed in Ominous
whispers the villainies and effrontery
of this individual; but with the exeep-
tion of one or two short paragraphs in
the newspapers, nothing concerning his
irregularities has been brought to light
until within a few days. Now, how
ever, the entire affair has been exposed,
as far as facts have been ascertained,
and feeling sure that sooner or later his
sin will find him out, and that it is to
the vital interest of society and good
morals, and for the peace and safety of
womanhood, that such heartless villains
should be exposed, we give the story as
furnished to the Oregonidn, which, al
though almost incredible, is only too
true:
Little less than year ago there came
to this city a scOundrel under the name
and title of "Dr. Ellerton Welcome
Aldrich." This individual rapidly es-
tablished himself in practice, by dint of
industrious advertising, paying for
drinks in saloons, and putting many
dollars in the church plate in an osten-
tatious manner. This person, it APP
pears upon investigation succeeding his
sudden departure from our midst and
the inevitable developments following,
procured as early as 1865 a diploma from
an eclectic college in Philadelphia, pre-
sided over by John Buchanan, NJ. d.
Where he spent the three years imme-
diately following is not known, but in
1868 he turned up in Crawford county,
Pennsylvania, as canvaSser for an illus
ID 1 L. 1.
quaintances in the course of eight
months, and among them gained the
affections of Miss Susie Alexander, of
Espyvile. When he left this vicinity,
it was to go West to practice his profess
sion. His first letters to Miss AleXan-
der were from Ovid, Michigan; but he
soon left there for California, where he
came in 1869. In 1879, having cOrre-
spouded with Miss a. regularly since
1868, he returned to Pennsylvania in
July and married Miss A. on the 18th
of August at Erie, the ceremony being
performed bv Rev. Chas. e. Kimball, of
the Central Presbyterian Church of that
city. Very soon after DIR. Aldrich and
bride left for California, where, after
stopping one week, they proceeded to
Portland, as above related. On the 14th
day of July, 1876, DR.. Aldrich departed
from this city, Osteusibly to visit a pa
tient near Salem, but really, as has been
determined, to take himself out of
harm's way. For it now appears that a
vision of arrest for bigamy was trOub-
ling his peace. The doctor had a taste
for marrying respectable and innocent
: young women about as often as once a
year, and not having taken time to be
legally rid of wife whom he had es-
poused in 1874, was what so disturbed
, him in the midst of a lucrative practice
that he felt compelled to leave it, a
correspondence between certain parties
in California and the chief of Portland
police, together with other mutterings of
the coming storm, warned the gay doc
tor that it was perilOus remaining on
his native soil, and sent him abruptly
: to British Columbia.
: The cause of this reasonable alarm
} was that Mrs. Emma Louise Could
Aldrich, his legal wife, had discovered
his whereabouts, and was gradually
Withdrawing the veil from the eyes OF
s Portlanders, including those of the wife
. he had unlawfully taken in Pennsylva-
mia. 1t is a long story. Suffice it to
state the facts and give such evidence
as shall place the doctor in his true
= light before the public. DIR. Aldrch
: was an orphan adopted by Ralph Gould,
! ESQ.,, of Elmira, New York, and by him
sent to a medical college to be fitted for
the profession he had liking for. Re-
turning home from college, he sought
and won the affections of his guardians
daughter, Emma Louise, and after sew
eral years in California returned again
to Elmira in 1874 and married this
young lady, taking her with him to the
Golden State very soon after, and this
without intermitting his correspond
! ence with Miss Alexander. Eleven
months they lived together, but not
D long in any one place-the time being
2 divided between San Jose, GilrOy,
Round Valley, Ukiah, and Salinas City.
At the end of that time the doctor sud-
e denly abandoned his young wife, send
e ing her word that he had gone to South
q America. 1t was at this time that he
went to Pennsylvania after Miss Alex.
ander.
! A correspondence having been estab,
= lished between the two ladies above
q named, they have been able to discover
still another wife of the doctors, who
) for a reason not yet ascertained, pro-
cured a divorce from him in Santa Clara
county, California. Other rumors very
damaging to his reputation as a man
and practitioner have also been circu.
lated.
{ To show what an uneasy Benedict
> this man is, he was no sooner in Port
land with his new wife than he began
writing to an aunt of Mrs. Gould-Ald-
rich that he could not tell how dark,
= gloomy, and comfOrtless his life on
earth had been for all these weary
months since his separation from his
dear Emma, and asking where she was
These letters so imposed upon the cred
!, ulity of those who had been accustomed
I to hold him in their esteem, that they
wrote to the deserted wife in California
of these loving phrases, and very nearly
e were the cause of deceiving her into
= reconciliation-she still being ignorant
' he was guilty of the crime of bigamy.
A letter from her, inspired by these rep
resentations, telling hia of the birth
q and death of their child, and asking
e him if he had obtained a divorce from
her, coming to the doctor after his
flight, was the first clue that Miss AL
exander was able to get of the real facts
Y in the case. She now writes from San
Francisco that she is in possession Ol