New-York tribune., 1900-05-19
WIFE AN ALLEGED PLOTTER


frequently absent from home. and when he
came back February 21 he said he and Alice
had been married that day. the Rev. DR..
Eaton. who married him, had been good to him
and had given him wife Later Alice said she
was afraid and asked Mrs. East to sleep with
her for fear he would shoot her. Mrs. East re-
moved revolver and knife which he had In
his room, and slept with his wife Alice said
she did not care for him. and had only married
him for his money: that she had the dearest
fellow in college in Brooklyn to whom she was
engaged and that his Otto Pobe.
and that the old man could not live more than
a couple of years
LETTERS FROM ANOTHER LOVER
Mrs. East then. she says. asked by Alice
to permit Otto Pobe to address letters in her
name. and she consented. She afterward got a
letter, and, not knowing from whom 1t came.
gave 1t to her husband to read. He found it was
intended for Alice Wood to whom she apol-
osized for opening it. An arrangement then
made by which Pobes letters were to be marked
with cross, so that the af1iant would know
they were for Alice. A letter reached her on
March %. which she handed to Alice who was
reading II when Van Ness came along. Alice
then asked her to burn 1t, but she gave it to
her husband. who when he read it. told Mr..
Oil .NcSS tIdl lie WAS DtiHS lfnpCSeu Oh ny MS
wife, who a married woman. Alice was
present at the time and told him not to believe
it. He then said he would bet a million dollars
that she was not married woman. and that
people would talk" Alice wrote to Pobe the
next day, but Mrs. East says she handed her
letter to John b. Higgins. an old friend of Mr.
Van Ness. who still has it. The letter to Pobe
said that East was at a club. where some men
from Middletown stated she married.
There are some old devils here on to u.s. the
letter added "and tell there de-
tectives on the case. Destroy all my letters and
take my pictures out of your ROOM"
Mrs. East alleges she believes Mr.. Van Ness
Is the victim of a conspiracy; that he Is upward
of eighty-two years old. and is easily Influenced
by women, and unless some steps are taken to
prevent It, he will be deprived of all his prop
erty. She says Alice threatened that If her hus-
band did not turn over his stocks and bonds to
her she would not remain with him, and that
she had been told by her brother that he could
not make a will disposing Of the property left
him by his wife.
The letter written to Alice by Pobe was as
follows:
My Darling Alice: Received both your letters. and
was awfuly glad to get them. and the tenspot was
ing of your little boy. Many thanks dearest little
Sope your foa 'na eod is Better Ny dam
stu the same but am going h,o to 9st 9sr Iar Yn
were married You see, keep track of every day.
count the hoursyes the minutesMthat at you m are are
Maybe won't bite them off when / sse ss YOU iat and
thought. now that you haven't an earthly thing 10
about two two years You viii be wabbling around like
Aunt Minnie and VIII love you more than than eyer yer
just as fat as you want to- for If you gain know
If You You knew how glad was to hear that he Is
going TO turn over all those stocks to you. with
aod No need to ne You Certainly are making
big progress. You know 1 was little afraid he
I am glad / can come to Cornwall when you 60
take run up and look the place all over.
Well, darling little wife, will close and write again again
| will see you again, and do hope it will be Soon
With all my love and kisses, am your ever ral5h
An affidavit of Frederick East corroDorated
that of his wife and added that Alice Wood
was he was convinced, adventures, q woman
of bad moral character and low Instinct Her
language was coarse and vulgar and immodest
She used profane language, and was not de-
sirable companion for Mr.. Van Ness. as she
was not ministering to him. nor did she show
the least affection for him. She merely wanted
to get his property and then to leave him.
An affidavit made b. Samuel Riker, jr. one
of Mr. Harmon's attorneys. stated that the in
ventory of Mrs. Van Ness's estate showed that
she died possessed of $S39.99S 80 in personal
property the income from which was about
$4,000 a year. Van Ness had since sold hve
hundred shares of Consolidated Gas stock for
SSS, 800, and had cancelled mortgages aggregat-
ing more than 100000 since his wife's death, and
he had been unable to find what disposition he
had made of the proceeds. Mortgages, aggregat-
ing Sl33, 600 in 1890 and 1900 had been made out
in the of Cornelius Van Ness. but did not
include any of the mortgages referred to.
Mr. Riker said that Alice Wood was legally
disqualified from marrying the old man because
she was married to Pobe, and that Van Ness
was disqualified from marrying her. because
his first wife had secured a divorce from him
which debarred him from marrying during her
lifetime, and she, Deborah Van Ness. was still
alive
Henry Bacon, a lawyer, Of Goshen, denied all
the allegations made by Mr.. Bandy, and said
that Mrs. Van Ness had intended by her will
to convey all her property to her husband to dis
pose of as he wished. 1t was he who had
brought her the money, having had $400 900
when he married her. which had increased. Alice
Wood, he said, most respectable young
woman, and he produced affidavits from the
Baptist minister at Port Jervis and her Sunday
school teacher there. who knew her and her
parents, as to her high moral character and
social standing. Counsel asked that the injunc-
ton be dissolved. Justice Andrews reserved his
decision.