The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-04
PROSECUTED BY WOMEN
DAVID sEELEY,S STORY of HIS
MANY MATRIMONIAL VENTURES.
Old PensiOner Who Says He Has Been
Lured Into Marriage Ten Times
by Designing Females.

jan at TINS place, Is q much abused man.
He says that the women prosecute him so
that he can never free himself from petit
coat dominion. According to his narrowing
tale, there is no town which he has ever
visited where some bold adventures did not
throw herself at him and demand that he
marry her on the spot Neither shortness
OF acquaintance nor his plea of other en-
gagements nor his bashfulness has availed
to save him. I'm Short" says David See
ley. there was never martyr like unto
me"
Mr.. Seeley does not attribute his suffer-
ings entirely to his personal beauty nor to
the magnetic charms which he exercises
on the other sex. He is not ignorant of the
fact that he is sixty-eight years old, that
his eyes blink weakly, and that his man
ners still hint at the lunatic asylum in
which he was once confined. lie thinks
that his wealth has much to do with his
persecution. He is the fortunate possessor
of pension of $24 a month from the United
States government. True, he has not drawn
any of it for a number of yeaSs. But that
is another story.
The women Mr.. Seeey has known do not
look upon his adventures in the same way
he does. In fact, one of them has been UNI
kind enough to prosecute him for bigamy.
A little investigation has brought 10 light
a list of ten alleged wives but nobody
thinks it complete, as several counties are
yet to be heard from. Following is the list
revised up to date:
]. A woman married during the war and
deserted soon after.
2. Margaret McCrumb, OtsGgo Mich.
8. Mrs. Vrooman Mishawaka, Ind
4. Mrs. Patience Burch, Elkhart, Ind.
5. Mrs. Stanley, Sturgis, Mich.
g. Mrs. Altman, Pittsburg, Pa.
Z. Ada Frawl. Jonesville, Mich.
s. Mrs. Johnson, Berrien county.
8. Mrs. Lucy Killam Kalamazoo.
10 Mrs. Clara Davidson, Grandville, Mich.
All Of these women but the first on the
list have told their tales of woe. They say
that Seeley is rot only gay deceiver of
female hearts, but also purloiner of fe-
males wealth.
THE WOMEN'S CHARGES.
They charge him with selling their chick
ems, with driving away their COWS and with
knowing how to turn into cash almost
every movable thing on which he could get
his hands They say that far from his
pension being an attraction in their eyes, it
was their live stock and wardrobes which
were the attractions to him. That is not
all that is charged against Seeley by any
means. One banker in western Michigan is
anxious to punish him for obtaining money
under false pretenses. Somebody else has
charge of forgery against him. He is
said to have been in the penitentiary three
times and to deserve to be placed theEe sew
seeley was arrested at Pierson, Mich,
Saturday, on charge of bigamy sworn out
by Mrs. Lucy Killam, the penult in the long
matrimonial word which he has coined She
said it was really too bad that within a few
weeks after deserving her he should marry
another woman, and that in a town only
a few miles away. So she swore out the
warrant and offered a reward of 500 for his
arrest. The prize stirred up a constable
who had never made an arrest IN his life
before, and the result was the present sad
plight of this unfortunate victim of wom-
ans WileS
Seeley's matrimonial history has been a
rapid one ever since the days when he
served his country during the civil war. 1t
was fast enough at the start, bat 1t has
been growing steadily faster until of late
three or four wives Il year do not seem too
many for him. OF his relations to the wife
of his soldier days little is known, save that
he showed her clean pair of heels soon
after the war was over. He next appeared
at Leroy, n. Y, where he married Mar
garet McCrumb. With her and the family
of nine children that belonged to the pair
he had various wanderingS. He is said to
have served a two years sentence in 1Sl4-75
in the Jackson penitenuary on charge OF
obtaining money under false pretenses. Two
other terms of imprisonment are ascribed
to him during this period, one being in
Milwaukee.
Seeey lived with his wife until about nine
years ago. Their home was then at Misha-
waka, Ind. He says he did not desert her
when he left her, but instead was driven
away His wife called him such awful
names as 'looney'' and "old fool" and that
was more than man of fine sensiblities
could stand. He had to leave, so he says,
one evening without any supper.
He wandered around for awhile bat no
evidence has been found about crop of
wives having been grown by him until he
returned to Mishawaka, from which town
the McCrumb wife had in the meantime,
removed. Back in his old haunts. Seeley
NfOOmdn
some time he was unrecOgnized, but finally
the day of reckoning came and he had to
flee again. In the meantime he is credited
with having made away with fair amount
of the worldly goods of Mrs. Vrooman. He
admits this marriage as well as the previous
one but they are the only two of all his
adventures which he says were really mar
TO judge from all reports his later matr-
monial experiences were carried out from
strictly financial point of view, and he
seemed to prefer dealings with confiding
widows in the possession of small proper
ties. Mrs. Patience Burch reports that he
gathered up her sole COW, drove 1t away
and sold it.for $50. and then swiftly departed
with the proceeds. Ada F'raw tells tale
of woe in a similar strain, and Mrs Stan
ley of Sturgis, also says that she would be
richer in worldly goods had Seeley never
crossed her path.
A BANKER MAKES CHARGES.
Occasionally Seeley turned his practiced
hand to other things. At St. Joseph. Mich,
to have land and giving a mortgage upon
the pretense. The banker wants him on ac-
count of this little transaction, and forgery
is also charged against him at the same
place.
The last two plunges into matrimony were
the swiftest of all. Last October Seeley met
Mrs Lucky Kilam, of this city. In short or
der he induced her to discard the widows
weeds she had worn for thirty years. Only
a few dollars the richer, he deserted her
soon at Battle Greek, and before long was
the husband of Mrs. Davidson of Grand
Vile This last wife had considerable
means. but she proved more than a match
for the old man. and the two had a lively
time for few hours before he left her
week ago Monday. Seeley sold the woman's
He reported that he had bought some furn-
ture, and she went to the store to investi-
gate, but learned that he had not been
there. She went back home and expressed
her feelings.
go to find out about goods that are going
out of town. You should have gone to the
shipping department
While Mrs. Davidson was thinking the
matter over Seeley disappeared, and the
next thing that happened to him was his ar
rest on the charges made by Mrs Killam
Seeley has employed e. r. Knappen to de-
fend him. and he is trying to make peace
with Mrs. Killam. He persists in looking
upon himself as victim of persecution.
prosecuted him by marriage. but also wOm
en- have tried to get his wealth by sending
him to the lunatic asylum. He says that
three years ago he was thrown into an aSy
lum in Indiana and a guardian was APP
pointed who has since drawn his entire PEN
eli 10 Savc has not dared n hack