Arizona republican., 1896-09-01
Marry, Repent and Mar
 ry Again.
An Intricate Case Solved by a
 Pension Agent.
The Soldier Dies, Leaving Several Widows-Leaai Widow Afraid
 of the Pension.

The Kansas City Star says: Special Pension Examiner w. A. Spangler, at Kansas City, sent to the department at Washington, D. C., yesterday re port on what he said was the most intricate pension case that ever came under his observation. It was story of many marriages. involving legal question of great perplexity. A wo- man who married soldier of the late war applied for a pension, as his widow It developed that she was not his legal widow; but instead, a woman now living in Kansas City and mar ried to another man, is the legal widow, and is entitled to the pension At the beginning of the war Andrew J. Clark, who lived at Bradford, Pa, enlisted and went to the front. Af- ter his discharge he returned to Brad l ford, married, and went with his wife l to Sullivan county, Ind. They disa- greed and the husband left home. The wife got a divorce, but was forbidden to marry within a year, as the officers had been unable to find Clark and Ho- tify him of the proceedings. A defai- cation while surveyor of Sullivan county had hastened Clark's departure 1 One child was born of the marriage. l Clark went to Philadelphia and as
 stunned the name of Andrew J. Howe, retaining his true initials. He became acquainted with pretty waitress and the two went to Jersey City and were married. The Indiana wife found a new husband within the year stipa- lated by the court The waitress had been betrayed several years before by a travelling man. To avoid scandal the travelling man had taken the waitress to Baltimore, where child was born
 He represented the waitress as his wife The travelling man already had
 a wife and three children. He had ceased living with his wife because she was a morphine fend. She met the waitress and the children were taught to call the latter mother.
 In unraveling the case the pensiuH
 department for a time was puzzled in
 deciding whether the travelling man
 was legally married to his second wife, the waitress, as it was not shown that he had secured a divorce from his
 first wife. It was decided that the marriage to the waitress was not le- Il gal The two soon fell into discord and went through the legal formality of a divorce Howe, the soldier of
 fortune and defau1ter, went to Ger
 mantown, Pa, after his separation
 from his waitress wife. In German
 town he married again. Several ehil- dren were born of the last marriage
 Wife No. concluded one day that she
 would like to see her mother-in-law- Howe grew alarmed, fearing that his past would be revealed. He induced
 his wife to write to his married sister
 The wife was shrewd, however, and is
 was not long until she knew her bus
 bands true name. Howe died about
 four years ago, and his last wife ap- piled for a pension. The pension department was con.
 fronted by the question, who is Howe's
 legal widow? To solve the puzzle fl
 was necessary to secure testimony
 from as many as possible of the living f principals. Mrs. Howe No. 3 and the alleged second wife of the travelling
 man, when rolled into one person, make the Philadelphia waitress. She
 was located ir Ksnsas C:tv hv ts,e pension department. Special Exam
 finer Spangler was instructed to inter- view the woman. She is 2 good look
 ing woman, happily married, and de voted to her home She grew pale
 from fright when the pension agen, 1, visited her and began to unfold her past. She had lived for years secure in bhe hope that the great west had swallowed up the story of her early misfortunes.
 The visit of the pension examiner was not the woman's only embarrass- ment. The pension department de,
 cided that she was the legal widow oi
 the soldier, Andrew J. Clark, alia.
 Howe, whose last wife, now living neal Philadelphia, is after the pension Tho Kansas City widow does not want thu !. pension. She wouldn't apply for it .. !. even if she did want it, as the exposur, : would jeopardize her social position ! The travelling man who betrayed tht
 waitress is now a we'll known bushes!
 man in Chicago, where he is manager
 of a large manufacturing concern. H,
 is married again, and his wife believel
 that she is his second wife.