Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-12
A BIGAMIST IN FROCKS.
ONE OF GEORGIA'S DAUGHTERS
CONVICTED IN NEW YORK.

! CONtlCIED IN NEW YORK.
An Adventures Whose Husbands are
Beyond Counting, and Whose suits for
the Recovery of Imaginary VaIuables
Would FIJI a VOlume-SOme of Her
I Victims.
a very remarkable trial was concluded
in New York on Friday. A woman by
the name of Anna Hawes, alias Anna
Wallingford, was convicted Of the crime
! of bigany. She is the first person who
has been convicted under the New York
statute, which provides that any one who
! marries another already married, and
| who knows of the existence of such prior
marriage, shall be punished for the crime
of bigamy. Anna Walljngford married
Nathan l.. Halves, who at the time was a
married man, and it appears the woman
! Wallingford knew he was married man.
He was convicted of bigamy several days
ago. He was aman OfgOOd social standing,
and at the time he made the acquaintance
of Mrs. WalIingford he was Superinten-
dent of the American Bank Note Com
pany. Hawes first met the woman on the
street, and their chance acquaintance
rapidly ripened into intimacy. The love
letters which passed between them were
presented in court, and were highly anus
ing. The man is 30 and the woman 40
but if they had been half the ages they
were they could not have been more
idiOJic in their love babblings. They ad-
dressed each other as "baby," and gave
each other the softest kind of tatfy. The
woman Wallingford has had a remarkable
career, and is, 1t seems, a native of GeOr-
gia. The following leading points in her
history are furnished in a special from
Philadelphia to the New York Herald,
published Saturday last:
The sensational career of Anna w Walling-
ford, or, as she now calls herself Anna
HaWes, is well known in this city, and
several prominent Philadelphians have
good cause to remember her appearance
among them five years ago. The wOman's
history prior to that time is not entirely
known, but fragments of il have been
gathered both from her own state
ments and from the investigations of
Philadelphia detectives, who were en-
gagged upon some of the many remark
able cases in which ''the WallingfOrd"
has posed either as plaintiff or defendant.
Although this extraordinary woman
has always maintained with singular
pertinacity that her mother was the sister
Of eX-President johnson, it Is quite we'll
established that she is the daughter Of
James WhitmOre. an humble farmer liV-
llS ACdl spins ldCts MuIIdN county.
Ga. There is record to the effect that
as far back as 1865 she was known i'm
Georgia as ''MOll Gentil, the Rebel Spy"
What particular services she NAV have
rendered the Southern COnfederacy are not
matters OF history, and her own accounts
OF her various exploits and startling eX-
perlences are eXtraYagant and conflict
ing. Soon after the war she set up an
imaginary claim for $3.50, 900 damages in
n finn for fbn dam arroc inf oil
upon her property by Sherman's army on
the march to the sea. She exercised all
the power of her Establishment upon Col.
Frank Sepellus, a Southern Provost Mar
shall, whom she besOught to sign certif-
Gates concerning her enormous losses.
Col. Sepellus, however, was less suscept-
ible than some of her subsequent victims
and her claim was ignored.
HER ADVENTURES IN THE WEST.
In 1868 this woman Of many expedients
appears in Leayenworth, Kan. where she
passed as Mrs. Adelina Wright, of Ten
nessee. One year later she married
hack driver named Collier, with whom
she lived ten months. At the end Of that
time she had Collier arrested upon
charge of stealing her diamonds and other
Yaluables. Collier was acquitted of the
charge and soon after went to Colorado,
where he procured a divorce. From
LeavenwOrth the adventures Went
to Platte City, where she managed to
maintain suit of elegant apartments,
and became notorious under the sugges-
tive. nickname of ''The Big Casino" 1t
was about this time, according to her
own statements, that she was married to
ID. w. WallingfOrd whom she ALWAYS
spoke of as ''the Captain" and whose
death upon the frontier she used to pic
ture with the most vivid pathOs. BreYet
oil 7
of the Seventh Cavalry. Until he came
under the influence of this woman he is
said to have borne the reputation of gen.
tleman and brave soldier. The general
court martial of May 10, 1870, dismissed
him from the service. One of the charges
against him was that he had registered
a disreputable woman as his wife.
Though WallingfOrd and the woman lived
together in Chicago for more than year,
there is said to be no evidence that they
were ever legally married.
1t was in 1878 that the checkered career
Of this woman brought her into the So
ciety OF the capitol, where she appeared
a6 the widow of Capt. Wallingford.
While residing in Washington she won
the affections of Lieut.. VIM. II. Tiffany.
Lieut.. Tiffany married the widow" and
soon afterward was divorced from her.
The marriage ceremony was performed by
the Rev. G. A. Van Andra, of ST. Louis,
and the brides name was registered as
Amelia Clawdine WallingfOrd. In spite
OF these facts the woman afterWard
swore, while on trial in this city, that She
was never married except to Capt. Wall
ingford.
In 1875, the year of her marriage with
Lieut.. Tiffany, while boarding at the Lin
dell House, st. Louis, she alleged that she
had been robbed of an elegant diamond
worth $4,000. The proprietor of the hotel
investigated the case, found that the mate
of the lost gem was a paste brilliant of
little value and elected his tenant. She
afterward went to the Lacede Hotel,
where she remained for some time.
HOW PHILADELPHIA AGREED WITH HER.
Philadelphia in the year 1879 became
familiar with the stylish toilet and eX-
travagant equipage of a lady who fire.
quently drove in the park and on Chest
nut street, attended by liveried coach
man. 1t was "the Wallingford" again,
who appeared this time as the wife, or
alleged wife, of a NorristOwn gentleman
During the period of her Philadelphia
residence the woman succeeded in i'm
posing upon the credulity of Mayor
StOkley and many prominent lawyers,
who were impressed by her plausible
stories and ladylike manner. She had
considerable difficulty with a Philadel-
phia lawyer, who espoused one of her
legal enterprises and afterwards had cause
to regret it. The lawsuit of the adVen-
turess against the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company is well remembered. She
alleged that her baggage was lost or
stolen While she was travelling in Indiana
upon one of the roads leased by the Penn
sylvania Company, and thereupon brought
suit to recover $4,000. She was repre-
sented by f. Carroll Brewster, and the
large claim was based upon her fabulous
stories of diamonds, rubies, laces, and an
untold wealth of valuables in her lost
trunk. The suit was subsequently set
tied by the payment Of $3.50 to the
claimant.
George Benkert was another Philadel-
phia victim Of her manifold schemes. She
charged him with having stolen $1,000
from her room in a Cape May hotel The
case was heard before Justice Cassiday,
of Camden, n. j., and Benkert was ac-
quilted after he had exposed the wom-
ans past record, with the aid of detec-
tlves. Soon after scurrilOus circular
appeared filled with ISLANDERS against
BenkeTt, and ''the WalIingford'' was
charged with its authorship. In this case
her counsel was Rufus K. ShapIev. The
woman was acquitted of the charge of
slander and libel. In 1877 she borrowed
money from +. w. Carter, of No. $50
South Sixth street, and gave him some
jewelry as security, Another loan of S575
was negotiated from the same source. and
Carter took bill Of sale on her furniture.
which was very handsome.
The furniture had not been paid for
and was afterward reclaimed by the
dealer from whom it was bought. After
a long nght In the Common Pleas Court
Judgment was confirmed and execution
in