New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-03-02
SIX WIDOWS FOR AN ESTATE
MERRY WAR AMONG ALLEGED
RELICTS OF J. II. wHITELEGGE.
HE rs SAID TO HAVE HAD WIVES AND CHILDREN
IN ENGLAND GERMANY AND AMERICA. AND
THOUGH 4 LAWYER HERE. NEVER
TROUBLED TIE DIVORCE COURTS.

THOUGH LAWYER HERE NEVER
TROUBLED THE DIVORCE COURTS.
James Henry wh!telegge formerly we-known
lawyer in this city. with Offices at No l23 Cham
hers-st and previously at No. 81 College Place
died on Tuly %. 1896 leaving no will. HIS estate
amounted TO from %O,ooo to $4,000. however ana
now six women each claiming to be
widow a child OF his. clamoring for share
Of It, number of actions have been brought in
the courts BY well-known law firms In behalf or
the different claimants.
Whitelesce was an Englishman. Early In his life
he policeman. and afterward a mill hand IN
Stockport. England HIS matrimonial career was
wide one. according TO the lawyers, and IL began IN
1873 when the records say that he married one
Prudence Higgins ir Heaton Chapel. near STOCK
port. II ls also alleged supposed that ne mar
ried another woman in the same neighDorhood pu'
in another church. in the following year. About
1854 Whltelegge. It is said went to GERMANY taHihs
Prudence Higgins with him. There chi'd was
horn to the couple and christened Matsare''"
Emma Evangene. who afterward married Henry
Shumway, II Jersey city.
Prudence Higgins eft Whiieegge ailer Aou'
months resldence IN Germany. and went pacK 10
England -Four months later White esge followed
her and they lived together again. Another chliu
was born. and named Edward. He IS now hVlhs j"
England
In 1855 it is charged hat whi;eiegge married an
other woman and that she made the iour'h "i'e
he had taken 10 his bosom without observing the
formality Of an appeal 10 the divorce courts IN the
case Of any o. the other women. NniIelesge theh
II is said. this country, leaving ali MS al
legged wives behind him. About 1901 he boarded ID
a private boarding house in Eighth-ave., near
Twenty -third-si.. and while there met woman
known as Marietta sturr. manufacturer OF linen
busters She IS said have been formerly the VIE
Of Abraham A. I ozier. farmer, living near fater-
son. y. J = but had been divorced from him. she
suggested common law marriage TO Nhitelegge
1t IS alleged III t.e papers and they lived together
for thirty years and mad three children-Henrietta
Duffy who is twenty nine years old and lives
in Fordham Alfrea VINO is twenty-five years Old.
ard Edith who is sixteen years old.
In 1881 or the following year Whitelegge had FOR
client Mrs Curry. and he procured for her
divorce from her husband. Whitelegse. II is al
legged then entered into common-law marriage
with Mrs. Curry. and they had child. Harry.
In 1888 Mrs Sturr-Lozier- -Whtelegge began divorce
proceedings against Whtelegge. but in June OK
that year the proceedings were suddenly sus-
perded. and the couple lived together again Nh!te-
leege acknow Lodging that Mrs. Lozler was MS
This arrangement lasted few months, and then
Whielegee' II Is sad. went - Trenton ana Ihere'
found that Mrs. Lozier had never made an appear
ance in the divorce proceedings oIougnt asnhsr sis
was legally divorced from her. not di-
vorced from him and was siill Mrs LGzer
Insisting that his marriage 10 Mrs. L0zier was
void Whttelegge then tooa Mrs. Curry, the.r child
and two servants to his home in Fordham. and II
is said while Mrs Lozer was still living there.
He had previously taken Mrs. Curry 10 Canada,
and h1i gone through another marriage ceremony
with her. -
When Whiteegge died in 1896 at his home, No
24sS TiebOut-ave.. Fordaam, his last wife, Ms.
Curry-Whtelegge, was still living with him When
she endeavored 10 secure administration papers on
Whiteegse's estate, however. the other alleged
wives and offspring began 10 pop up. Two OK the
alleged wives Mrs LoZerWhitelegge and MIS-
Curry Whiteegge. lived next door 10 each other IN
Fordham. Prudence Higgins, another wife. is nv
ing with her daughter Mrs. Henry ShGmway az
No s6A Clinton-ave., Jersey City. Mrs. Shumway
husband IS now on his wav Germany 10 mo
out il Whiteegge had married another woman
there. and altogether the fight for Whitelegges
-Four Law firms have already been engaged by va
rious claimants. and II is strongly expected that
others viii be heard from in few days.
Whitelegge had large general law practice and
is SAID 20 have been pugnacious and successful
LAWYER He was a terror in the courts" said one
nell-known practitioner yesterday.