The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-08-10

PACIFIC NORTHWEST NEWS ) '''' S;':s. IDAHO j
Formerly Preacher and Insurance Man
on the Sound

Formerly Preacher and Insurance Man
on the Sound
| Tacoma, Aug. 10.-A dispatch re-
| ceived here from Jackson, Miss, states
| that Rev. Mr. Lane the notorious
| Christian minister and bigamist, has
| committed suicide by drowning him.
| self at the state insane asylum at that
place. in which he had been placed by
| the courts after a medical eXamina-
ton by physicians during his recent
trial for bigamy. Lane masqueraded
! under the name of Rev. Jean Skyles,"
] in his Mississippi home, but it was as
the Rev. Mr.. Lane he was better
known at the town of Sumner between
! Tacoma and Seattle, where he preach
ell for p number of years.
1t was dung his ministry at this
place that his theology underwent a
| change, he having come to Sumner in
| the capacity OF a Christian minister.
but there changing his creed to the
| Congregational denomination. He
| had a remarkable versatility of intel
| lect and could talk with fuency on a
wide range of subjects, and through
| his notable forensic talents his church
| was wen pdLTOHiZeu.
| For time he filed the pulpit in
Seattle, and ne also preached off and
on in the Bellingham bay cities, and
he was not a stranger to pulpits in
| Tacoma. The rewards of ministerial
labor, however, were not sufficiently
remunerative for him, nor was the
like sufficiently exciting for his incli-
nations, and he finally forsook the
parsonage to win precariOuS foot
hold in the life insurance business.
Establishing headquarters at Seattle
he visited outlying country towns, and
his superiors thought he was doing a
big business, but later it was discov-
cred that more than half the business
was bogus, and he hastily left the
country and later bobbed up in San
Francisco.
Begins Bigamous Career.
i Before leaving he married a girl
i from Whatcom and lived with her fol-
a few weeks in Seattle, abandoning
her when he went south. In California
! he entered the insurance business
, and there attempted the same illicit
methods adopted in Washington, but
was soon found out al went to West
Virginia. While in San Francisco he
allowed himself sufficient domestic
recreation from the cares of business
to court and mary girl, whom he ne
elected to take east with him. Insur
: ance companies then blacklsted him
but he changed his name and was
trying his old fake line of work in
humbugging life insurance companies
, when he was hunted down, and left
his West Virginia acquaintances, and
a woman whom he had improved the
time to marry, between two days.
Lane seems TO have wearied Of the
insurance work, or decided it was Toe
Iprecarious to follow further, for he
was next heard of in Alabama, and
several prominent members of the
Christian church in Tacoma received
letters from people In that state ask
ing what kind Of a man he was. 1t
Is known in Tacoma that he was pas
tor Of at least two charges in Georgia
and Alabama. and at both places mar
ried. The letters created such sen
sation that Lane, who changed his
name to the Rev. Jean Styles" has
tily decamped, and was next heard OF
in Mississippi. There he won the es-
TEEN, while acting as pastor of q
small church, Of a prominent young
lady much against the will of her pa
rents.
, Pleads Insanity.
In fact, parental opposition was SO
strong that the two eloped and ran
away to New Orleans, where they
|, were arrested under the instructions
of the parents, who had begun TO I'm.
earth some of the record of Skyles
In his long and erratic matrimonial
adventures Styles never took the
pains to Secure divorce, and this
was what accomplished his ruin He
was charged with bigamy, and at the
trial which took place at Port Gibson
Miss, pleaded insanity
| He swore that from early youth he
had had a mania for marrying women
and preaching the gospel, and declar
led that if he were allowed to go free
1t would not be six months before he
would have another pulpit and anOth-
er wife. Physicians who had exam
ined him pronounced him the victim
of mania, and he was sent to the asy-
lum at Jackson
A few evenings ago, as the attend
ants Of the asylum were bringing a
number of inmates into the wards
from an afternoon walk, Styles, who
was one of them, asked one Of the at
tendants il he might step into the
laundry. Instead of entering the
laundry, he ran around it and disap-
peared. The attendants gave chase,
but lost all trace of him. A large pond
stands in the rear of the building and
later SkyleS' coat and hat were found
on its bank. A careful search Of the
wives in this state, California, West
Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Mississ-
kansas.