The herald., 1896-03-13
REV. HOWARD w. FERGUSON
The Man So Broad in Sympathy That
He Had Two Wives
His History as Given by an Old Schooife!low
Is Anything but an Exemplary
One-T Story

An old schoolmate of the Rev. Howard
W. Ferguson, or Cummings. the mar
! against whom the grand jury brought al
indictment for bigamy, was seen yesterday
and said:
II was at college with him in Winfield
Kas., at which time he had wife whom he
said he had married in Kansas City, Mo
He was devout and attentive to his studies.
but suddenly he absconded without appar-
ent reason. returning some time later when
he resumed cohabitation with his wife
going to the Northwestern university al
Chicago. she accompanying him. This
was in 1889 and all track of him was lost
till he turned up in Oklahoma, where the
third child was born. Here he deserted his
wife and six years ago turned up in Uni
versity ragged and hungry. He was cared for
most kindly by several wealthy residents,
because an earnest Holiness evangelist,
and finally wooed and won Miss Elizabeth
Cogswell, a most estimable aud refined
young lady belonging to one Of the best
connected and most influential families in
Los Angeles county. One child is the re.
suit of the union.
He was two years ago recognized by this
school fellow, who reported it to the ia
ther-in-law. Some confusion resulted. but
Cummings bluifed his old schoolmate and
his father-in-law by saying that he had
been mistaken for his half brother. Ow-
ing to the unwearied efforts of the presid-
ing elder and an older brother of Miss
CCgsweli. he was finally brought to book,
but he still faced it out.
He went back ostensibly to obtain affi-
davits from people known to prominent
residents of University, SO IS to clear him
from the charges made. 1t was not init
mated to him that he would be prosecuted.
He went to Pennsylvania to a brother-in-
law of Miss Cogswell. with whom he had
correspondent, in which he alleged that the
woman said to be his wife was his para
mour Subsequently he, on pressure. ad-
mitted that he was lawfully married to her
in Kansas City. Mo-, but that she had OBJ
tained a divorce in Oklahoma. He was
then furnished with means to 20 to Okla
homa to get positive information on this
point. On reaching there he found that
his wife was in the same hotel as he, and
they both slept under the same roof,
Leither knowing that the other was rear.
Mrs. Ferguson. who lives some distance
from Oklahoma City, had come into town
to obtain divorce, having heard of her
husbands infidelity from Cogswell. Fer
guson, alias Cummings, took fright when
he found he was i'll such close proximity to
his abandoned spouse, and hastily departed
to Galveston. From this place he wrote a
full confession of all his misdeeds. and,
fearing arrest, he was going to Mexico. His
conduct while here was most exemplary
He made nothing by his breach of the law,
and when he left he did so with only little
money, leaving several hundred dollars in
the bank.
The motive for his conduct is mystery,
and can only be explained on the ground
that he is a hereditary degenerate. Mean
time Miss Cogswell's position is very
painful one and she has the heartfelt SYM
pathy of everybody familiar with the case.
He has played a similar game, it is said, in
Portland and Seattle. From there he came
to University. and was for time pastor of
church he founded at Redondo.
former professor said that about three
weeks ago he met ferguson on the street
and addressed him by the name under
which he went at the Northwestern uni
versity. The fellow with the utmost cool
ness, yet very politely, told the professor
that he was mistaken, looking him stead
lily and smilingiy in the face as he did So
Others who knew him in Portland had a
similar experience. If Ferguson, alias
Cummings, had remained at the university
u few weeks longer he would have gradu-
ated with honors Instead of this he has
gone to preach holiness to the greasers.