The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-06-06
MAN GIVES UNITED
STATES PENSION BUREAU
MATRIMONIAL FACTS.
Peter West Was Married Ten Times
and Divorced From Eight
of His Wives.

| WASHINGTON, D. c., June 1.-THE
Or, in his application for a pension,
that he has been married ten times and
the case so unique that it has been
rushed into Commissioner Wares hands,
and because of the fact that the COM
missioner and West served in the same
company during the civil war, the Sew
enth Iowa Cavalry, the former is TAX
ing a double interest in the matter.
Commissioner Ware was at first in
| clined to believe West was a Mormon.
| but when he read of his unprecedented
divorce record he changed his opinion.
"AnyhoW," said he, Peter West is
the most married and divorced man in
the United States, but he may be a long
ways from getting a pension"
TO say that Vests matrimonial ca
reer smashes the record in that par
ticular field is saying a good deal, as
y
cases of marriage and divorce among
! applicants for pensions. but neVerihe-
less the Oregon man stands first. The
! statement of West that he had been
married ten times was scarcely credit
ed by the clerk who examined the pa
| pers, and the case was so eXtraOrdi-
nary in that particular that it was
| brought to the notice of the commits
sioner
In addition to a large list Of ques-
lions put to the applicant as to his
marriage relations, Mr.. West gave the
places and dates of his. marriages,
wherefore of the sundering of ties with
nine wives in various sections of the
country, nine of various inclinatiOns
and temperaments, he Wooed and won
a widow, Pauline Miller. That at
last he found domestic tranquility is
attested by the statement that No. 10
is still his wife. What became of the
other nine? Eight of them We're di-
vorced, and one of them died after two
years of WedlOck. Here is a copy of
Vests own statement to the pension
office in regard to his many marriages:
Eliza Hubbard married in Waterloo,
Ia: divorced there in 1868.
Bertha Meirs, married December Z,
1868, in Independence, To-; divorced in
Waverly, Ia, in 1878.
Emma Dixon, married in Sacrament
to- Cal; October II, 1875; divorced
January IS, 1879, in Iowa City, Ia.
Elizabeth Bray, married July 4, 1870,
in Winnemucca, New; divorced 10, 1881
at the same place.
Frances Westfall, married August,
1882, at Rye Patch, New; divorced on
June 10. 1885, at Winnemucca, New.
Mary Pendleton, married November
"A. 1886, Oakland, Cal; divorced De-
cember 10, 1890, at Reno, New.
Lucy f. Johnson, married December
81 1890. in Reno, New; divorced Feb
ruary 10, 1896, at Pendleton, Or.
Helnda F. Hanley, married July 2,
1897. at Pendleton. Or; died May Il,
1898 at same place.
Laura F. Bilrget, married August,
1898. at Pendleton, Or, divorced April
4. 1899.
Pauline Miller, married October %,
1899, at PendletOn, Or.
Has but Four Children.
West has but four children, and
none of them, We're he to die today,
would secure orphans pensions. all be-
ing over 16 years of age. Commits
sioner Ware. in going over the papers,
remarked that his old comrade had not
contributed a great deal toward de-
molishing the race-suicide theory.
The secret of Vests success in WOO
ing and winning his wives does not ap
near. but from the record the dates in
dictate that no sooner was he single
than he again contemplated matrimony.
In one instance. but II days elapsed
from the time he was divorced until
he was married.
He now suffers from diabetes and
rheumatism and urges these ailments
as reasons why he should have PEN
sion.
It was at Waterloo, Ia, that West en-
listed in Commissioner Wares COM
many. He was mustered out after a
vaars service West was born in
Prussia. 63 years ago. and was % years
old when he married his first wife. He
started out in life as lawyer and a
farmer.