Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1902-07-26


/ Under the heading Of Mania for
Marriage, and Arrest for Bigamy, y
the es-Democratr Of Wednes-
day. gives a two-colrmn account
of the past life of the Crew. Jean
Skyles, whose real name is c. M.
Lane, who married Miss Milestone
of this county, in Port Gibson, on
June gath, and was arrested III San
Antonio, Texas, for bigamy, and
is now being brought back to Port
Gibson, by Sheriff Neyland. A tel
egram received from Sheriff Ney-
land, states that Skyles, or Lane, is
insane. The letter appearing insthe
Times Democrat from Mr.. With
lexington. of Charleston, S. c., to
Mr.. Pratt, of New Orleans, regard
ing Styles past life follows:
"Charleston, S. c., July 10, 1902
"Dear Uncle Marion-Your letter Of 18th
received to-day and l reply at once. The
party you inquire about, Jean Styles, is the
same one Emmie wrote you about. Your de-
scription Of him TALES exactly, except you
might have added be wears a large diamond
in black tie and also wears pretty da-
mond ring. Styles is not his real name. That
L. ITO nj -
Lane. Styles is the name of a school teacher
who lives at Sumner, Wn., and 1t is bis name
this fellow Lane las taken. tie has here dur
ing the Exposition and preached for us theld
u meeting) for about ten days in March.
"Wbile he was here our preacher, o. W.
Riley had just resigned, and Skyles came In
unknown TO us a few days after Riley had re.
signed He spoke at our prayer meeting, and
we liked hing so much Brother Riley got him
to preach next Sunday and then got him'to
hold a meeting, bnt asked him for credentials
! He gave me as references J. T. Eshelman,
Tacoma, Wn., also the dean of the Eugene
Divinity School, Eugene, Ore, and some one
else in Tocoma, but no one in Sumner, where
he claimed he had preached for four years
This made me suspicious as 1t looked to me
like he might have referred to some one there
after having been there four years. it made
me so suspicious that the first letter Iwrote
was to the elders Of the church at Sumner.
also wrote to the others, The people at Sum
ner wrote me that he was IL scoundrel and an
imposter of the worst type, and his real name
was c. M. Lane. He was married In Califor-
mia, left his wife and was married again In
Tacoma, but the lady, finding out he had a
wife living in California, had just got di-
vorce from him.
ellis mania is to make love, or, rather, to
just simply propose marriage, to every young
| girl he meets. He proposed to four here. The
young lady at our house was the first, and she
refused unless he could furnish good referen-
ces, He did not want her to tell her mother
and wanted her to go right away with him in
two days. We feared he was married man
Though he claimed his wife had been dead
| four years. SO telegraphed to j. T. Eshel-
man, pastor of the First Church of Tacoma
| Wn. Is Jean Skyles married or single: wife
living or dead2' Answer came: Jean sllyles
is married. Wife living When We showed
him the telegram he claimed that was his
uncle, who had the same name as his and was
about his age. AS yet 1 had not had time to
/
We had let him go on with the meeting and
now he closed it item days,l and a few days
after came and told me he had decided to go
West again, and l told him he had better, and
on the first train, too
"While he was carrying on the meeting he
preached finely, and at the same time had
proposed to this young lady.
"Whle waiting for replies to references, we
asked him how he would like 10 take up the
work here, as Brother Riley was going to
leave, and he fSkyles) thought he would like
It, We told him he could have the appro-
priaton of $3.50 kept up by the Home Board,
provided we got a man that was acceptable
to them We had no idea of engaging him
permanently until we got replies as to his
character, etc. from the references, but we
did talk with him relative to taking up the
work here, but, you see, it was getting too
hot for him. The telegram was too much,
and so, Just a day or two before it was time
for me to get answers, he skipped town.
NOW, you have his whole history. There
| is no telling how many girls he has married
and left. His mania is proposing to them.
and, doubtless, il they agree, running OFF
with them. Can't you manage to get a pho
tograph of him? If you know where he has
gone do try to get one Then we could pub
lish him in the Standard. A few days (wo
or three) after he left town, l got letter
saying Jean Skylcs had just come home on a
two weeks vacation from his school that he
was teaching and was then with his wife and
two children, and that the party who was
with us was Lane, as Styles was then at
home and had been on the day my letter
was written.