Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-08-29
WILLIAMS, story.
His Side of the Elmira Sensation, as
Told an independent Reporter.


Told an Independent Reporter.
THE SUNDAY REGISTER contained special
dispatch from Elmira, n. Y, detailing
social sensation there, in which Charles
williams, of Bellaire, figured conspicuous
". Williams wishes to be married, but a
woman named Sarah Pine comes to the
front and claims to be his wife, producing
documentary evidence to substantiate her
claim. The matter, from her standpoint,
was fully set forth on Sunday.
Yesterday afternoon Bellaire reporter
hunted up Williams and obtained his side.
The account proved as follows:
Charles Z. Williams is blower in the
Bellaire Window Glass Works, and after
the publication of the story reporter in
teryiewed Williams at the home of his
affian.ed. He was ushered into neat and
tastily arranged parlor in the First ward,
and began his onslaught Of the innocents,
Miss Johnson was present during the whole
interview. Mr.. Williams said that he had
kept hotel in Covington for number
of wears, and that. during the time
he was in the hotel business he did keep
this woman, whose maiden name was Sarah
A. Pine, as his mistress. He lived with her
there, and the public, he said, didn't know
but what they were married. She, he states,
is grass widow, having been married to a
man by the name of Burton. He says he
lived with her until she became so public
in lewd ways that he could stand it no
longer and then he left her. This, he states,
was four wears ago, and since that time he
has nothing to do with the woman, except
that when he went to his home in Coving-
ton, Pa, last Monday, she struck him and
said she wanted a divorce. Then he says he
went with her to Indiana, and without con-
sulting lawyer, went to friend and gave
bera paper releasing her from any obligation
to him and which, he says, she thought was
divorce. (She has evidently changed her
mind sinceD Williams and his affsnced
also exhibit letters from several promi-
nent merchants and residents OF Covington,
all of which state that it was the general
impression that Williams and the woman
were married, but they also advised the
young lady interested in the affair, that II
he was free to marry again, he would make
a good husband, ETC., and all of the letters
shown to the reporter give him good repu-
tation, Even one from the Pine wo-
man said she did not blame
Charley as much as his mother.
Williams asserts emphatically that the let
tiers published with his name signed 10
them in which she is addressed as dear
wife" and purported to have money en-
closed. are forgeries, and his statement was
fortified by the young lady who says that
Williams received letter from the woman
sometime ago in which she says, VI have
written you five times without an answer,
and this will be the last unless l hear from
YOU" Williams wanted the reporter to give
The woman the worst name possible on his
authority, and says he defies any record or
the exhibition of single substantial docu'
ment to show that he ever married tins
woman. She says they were married In
Little York, Pa, in 1874. Williams says
there is no such place as Little York; that
there's York, Pa, near Harrisburgh, and
he states that marriages are all recorded
and that he defies copy OF any record that
can be produced. The woman stated that
the secretary of the glass works here wrote
that he could furnish good house. This
is a mistake, for when Williams was writ
ten to and asked, as all new employees are,
il he was married and wanted house, he
wrote back no. Williams is emphatic IN
his denials and bitter in his denunclatlon
of the woman who has thus assailed him
lust on the eve of his entering the legti,
mate matrimonial state. He says he will
obtain a statement from the Probate Judge
of the county in which the woman says
they were married, and have the same pub
lished, and asks a suspension OF pubic
opinion until that time.