Omaha daily bee., 1896-09-02
DID NOT MAKE HIN RICH
George Knopp Tries Too Marry an HeiresS,
but Signally Fails,
PRETTY ALICE PRESLEY AND HER LANDS
Matrimonial Advertising Leads to u
Nice Little ana nn Ar
rest for Fraudulent Use
of the Mails.

of the Mails.
Pretty Alice Presley. as she calls herself,
is in the hands of the federal authorities
under charge of using the mails for the
purpose of fraud. George Knopp is down
in his planning mill at Muscatine working
overtime to make up for the SO 900 which
he donated to Alice some weeks ago under
the impression that he was getting a pretty
and loving wife and a great big hunk of
valuable Des Moines real estate in the bar
gain.
Miss PRESLEY is the alias of Mrs. George
Knopp, who until a few weeks ago was living
in Des Moines, where her father and mother
reside. Her real name is Alice Whissen.
She is about "a years Of age, a decided
brunette, plump as a partridge, with a
face like a cherub and a voice and manner
calculated to win the admiration of a man
more experienced in the ways of the world
than was George Knopp, who is the com
planning witness in the case.
knopp is a partner in d planning mill
at Muscatine. He is a widower and so years
Of age. Some time ago he picked up a
matrimonial magazine ana, just for amuse-
ment. began to read the offers. His atten-
tion was attracted to an advertisement which
ItllNStlltl lldl IL IdIlSDIlt NUulR DGS
Moines girl, with $12. 600 in ner own right.
wanted to get married and get some good
elderly man to share her property and make
her home happy. KnOpp became curious.
CuriOusity excited ambition. \ correspond
enCc was opened and KnOpp was fairly daZCd
with his success in gaining the attention
and consideration of such a prize. He ac-
ccptCd an invitation to visit Miss Presley in
Des Moines and there the game was played
to d limit. His unknown correspondent, with
snt,gr ~ aud t,nn hi tn1 - / a tN4 ntf nt,4 t-nf
him. She was just as sweet and demure
as she could be and won Hnopp completely.
she entertained him handsomely and their
love affair progressed rapidly. Miss PRESLEY
took her aged sutton for carriage drives and
took some apparently justifiable pride in
pointing out TO him the several COSY cot
tagcs with their flowers bedecked lawns that
went to make up the $l2 900 worth of prop
erty which she claimed to have in her own
name. Knopp bit good and hard. He did
not, propose to allow such a chance to es-
cape him and he wanted to get married
right way.
REPAIRS HER HOUSES.
Then Miss Presley got in the smooth part
of her game. She had the property and was
therefore independent. She was not going
to tie herself up to any hOrrid man and be
at his mercy in money matters. While the
property was hers some of the cottages
needed repairs and there were some light
membranes that she wanted to clear up.
Then there was the house IN which she had
decided that she and her husband should
live. 1t needed some remodeling and had to
have a new furnace and be furnished mod
estly throughout. No. she would not con-
slider a marriage contract unless she could
have ready cash enough handed to her as a
wedding present to make the desired i'm
provements and give her pin money enough
to last through the honeymoon. She figured
it all out and decided that SO, 900 would be
just about the sum she would have to get
as 4 wedding present, and did Mr.. Knopp
have that much, and was he willing to
cough up? He had and he was. Even in
the depressed condition of the money market
aud during the slack time at the planning
mill Mr.. knopp wasn't going to pass up a
chance to get $12,00 worth of property and
an angel wife for a bargain counter price OF
SO, 600. He bit, swallowed bait, hook, bobber
and sinker.
The preliminaries were all soon arranged.
In response to an expressed wish of the
bride-to-be the wedding ceremony was cele-
brated at Creston. The plan was to go
back to Des Moines and move at once into
the home owned by the bride. Mr.. Knopp
kept up his end of the contract. With the
marriage kiss he handed his bride $1,000 in
cold cash and congratulated himself upon his
rare bargain. That $4,000 profit was better
than a good many months clearings from
his planning mill, to say nothing OF the prize
he had won in his wife. Mr.. and Mrs. Knopp
went back to Des MOines and registered at
a hotel. Mrs. Knopp had to go right over and
tell mamma all about the wedding. She
would be back soon. She went out and APP
p~arently lest the road, forgot what street
the hotel was on, and soon after lost all
memory of her marriage, and claimed that
she didn't know Knopp from a crow.
1t took Mr.. Knopp a good while to see the
light. He was finally forced to the conclu-
sion that he had been played for a sucker
and played strong. He found out that other
people held the deeds to those pretty little
cottages. and that the $l2 900 story was a
myth. Still he had a wife, and wasn't she
n daisy. He would look over the property
deal and cling to his love. But Alice told
Kncpp to go home and rest his face" and
refused to have anything whatever to do
with him. Then Mr.. Knopp told his troubles
to a policeman and the matter was placed
in the hands of the federal authorities, and
Yesterday morning Deputy United States
Marshal Hillweg came in from Des MOines
with the woman In his custody, charged with
using the mails with the intent to commit
fraud.
Mrs. Knopp, or Miss Presley. as she pre-
fers to call herself, VAS taken before Com
missioner Steadman and waived examina-
ton. She was placed under bonds of 81 500
to appear before the federal grand jury.
Word was received from the court at Des
Moines that the required bond had been
deposited and Mrs. Pressley-Knopp was re-
leased. She refuses to say a word about the