The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-27
LURED INTO MARRIAGE
STORY TOLD OF MAX Ro-
SENBERG BY WIFE NO. L.
She Believes He Exercises Spell
Over Her-NOw Prosecuting
Him for BfSamy.

at the side of Attorney w w. Thornton
in the Criminal Court yesterday afternoon.
The woman was Blanche Louise Mitchell,
of 1885 Milwaukee avenue, Chicago, who is
here as the prosecuting witness against
Max Rosenberg, the theatrical man on
trial for bigamy The case was called for
trial by jury yesterday morning and will
be brought to a close to-day.
Rosenberg has been in jail since last
Thanksgiving, when he was brought here
from Cincinnati by Detective Gerber. He
was arrested there on a Marion county
grand jury warrant, the indictment being
procured by Miss Mitchell who is known
wife No. l. Rosenberg was married to
her Nov. %, 1896. March 1, 1897, he was
married to Miss Jessie Crawford, another
Chicago woman. This marriage took place
in this city, the ceremony being performed
by Judge McMaster, of the Superior Court
Some weeks after the last marriage, both
wives met in Chicago and compared notes.
They agreed to appear against the man
who they decided had deceived them, and
wife No. came on to indianapolis with a
letter from Chicago attorney to the law
firm of Blackledge d Thornton. The evil
dence and information furnished by Miss
Mitchell was laid before the grand jury,
and an indictment was speedily procured.
Rosenberg was not arrested until several
weeks after the indictment was returned
and when he was finally located he was en-
gagged in placing the opera "Elysium" on
tho stage of one of the Cincinnati theaters.
He came here without a requisition, and,
being unable to furnish the bond required,
has since remained in JAIL He had no
money with which to employ counsel, but
finally made an arrangement with Herod
& Herod to appear for him, placing the
manuscript of his opera in their possession
as security for the fee. IttD5as expected
that both wives would come here to testify
against Rosenberg, but yesterday morning
Miss Mitchell put in an appearance alone.
She explained that the Crawford woman
was poor and did not feel able to stand the
expense of coming here. She is now en-
ployed in Chicago millinery store and re-
sides at 1884 West Erie street.
WIFE NO. l A DANCER.
Wife No. is twenty years of age, accord
ing to her testimony. She walked into the
courtroom yesterday morning, looking
bright and fresh and stylishly clad. She
wore q silk waist which contained rare
combination of coors, and jaunty, gray
walking hat adorned with white quilts.
She is slender, dark in complexion and looks
reer in the theatrical business. Her stage
name is "Pruita," and her line is serpentine
dancing. The fire dance under the call
cium lis her speciality. She is modest and
does not claim any particular cleverness as
a dancer. Rosenberg was brought over
from the Jail and occupied the prisoners
box when his wife arrived. lie looked we'll
fed and his personal appearance was good,
considering his long confinement. He is a
Hebrew, thirty-seven years of age. His
head is adorned with wealth" of dark
halr, which ne can remove at WILL The
fact that he wears Wig was brought out
by the attorney on the other side. Rosen-
berg frankly confessed it when pressed.
Miss Mitchell looked curiOusly at the pris-
oner when he was first brought into court,
and then moved her chair so that Artor
ney 1nolAtun sat DelmeeH leI anu HeI "a
husband. Mr.. Thornton was assisted by
Deputy Prosecutor Afford. Prosecutor
Wiltsie sat with them, but took little part
in the prosecution. Wife No. / gave her
testimony between frequent legal skirmishes
in which the attorneys became involved
She was not asked to go closely into de-
tails, and only testified in a general way.
She told of her marriage TO Rosenberg
and their separation in a few weeks with
out a divorce. She said she was not legally
separated from Rosenberg until August
last, five months after his marriage to Miss
Crawford in this city. The witness under
stood that wife No afterWard secured
an annument of her marriage. The wit
ness testified to a meeting which took
place between herself and Rosenberg in
May, 1897, Rosenberg, when put on the wit
ness stand, denied that he met the girl at
the Great Northern In May he said ne
met her there in February, three weeks
prior to his marriage to Miss Crawford.
He said she told him on that occasion that
she had been to Dakota and had procured
a divorce from him there and that he was
now free. He declared he put full confidence
in her statement and believed he was legal
ly entitled to make Miss Crawford his wife.
Rosenberg declared he did not Miss
Mitchell after the February conference un-
dance in one of the Chicago theaters. Ros-
enberg said he had given his first wife
money with which to procure divorce
when they separated. The marriage record
was brought up from the county clerks
office to show that Rosenberg had pro-
cured a license here. Judge McMaster was
he married the pair whose names appeared
on the record. The judge was asked If he
could identify Rosenberg, but said he could
not do so positively. However, he thought
there was something familiar about the
mans face He said the groom had failed
to pay him a fee Late yesterday evening
the attorneys for the defense moved to
have the prisoner discharged on technical
grounds, and Judge McCray heard argu-
ment on the question in chambers. The
court overruled the motion. There was also
a contention that the State had no case,
on the grounds that the judge of the Cook
county Circuit Court and the clerk of the
court although they had certified to the
genuineness of the marriage certificate is
the man VINO performed the first marriage
ceremony was justice of the peace
DENIED BEING IN PRISON.
The attorneys for the state made an at
tempt to introduce a bit of documentary
evidence in the form of letter from the
superintendent of the Philadelphia county
prison. of Pennsylvania. The letter was re-
ceived by Attorney Thornton a few weeks
ago. 1t read: Il return you herewith a
photo received for Identification. This man
is recognized as a former inmate of this
prison, as follows: Lewis Meyer, COM
mitted Oct 4, 1895, charged on oath of w. II.
Thompson with larceny and false pretenses.
Recommitted Oct ., 1895, on same oath;
also, Oct. 10, 1895, Lewis Meyer, alias Max
Rosenberg, charge founded on oath( of An
gelo Russell and RUDE Abbott with receiv-
ing money under false pretenseS; committed
on warrant. He was convicted Oct. 16, 1896
and sentenced to twelve months imprison-
ment under the name of Lewis Meyer alias
Lewis Rosen. Discharged Sept. l6 1896
cupation cook, complexion dark hair
brown, eyes brown, bald on head, broken
horse head and shoe on right arm" The
prisoner denied having been an inmate of
the Philadelphia prison and Judge McCray
refused TO admit the letter as evidence.
Wife No. / told her attorney that she had
seen the mark referred to in the letter on
RoSenberg'S arm.
Miss Mitchell relates strange story of
her experience with Rosenberg. the details
of which were not brought out in her testi-
mony She is very bitter against the man
and hopes to see him convicted She saws
that whenever she is in his presence she
feels a strange sensation stealing over her
which she Is unable TO throw off She does
not call il hypnotism, but declares il is some