The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-02-26
Woman in Portland Jail Principal
in Sensational Adventure.
MARRIED MAN TO OBTAIN HIS MONEY
VANCOUVER PREACHER IDENTI.
FIEs THE WOMAN AS BRIDE
At CEREMONY.

Mrs. Bertha e. Gordon, who is now
a prisoner in the Portland city Jail,
awaiting the arrival of California de-
tectives who are en- route to extradite
her on a charge of passing a worthless
check upon a San Francisco physician,
is the heroine of as daring and sensa-
tional plot to secure possession Of
fortune as was ever revealed in this To-
cality, is the report that comes from
Portland. She has been positively
identified as the woman who, under the
name of Bertha E. Lerch, was married
to a man representing himself to be
Edward S. Gordon, a wealthy lumber
man Of Coos Bay at Vancouver last
October. Gordon is well past the shady
side of life and Is not expected to live
intention upon his death to produce her
marriage license and proofs Of the cere-
mony in order to claim his estate as
his widow.
Rev. Robert Yeatman, pastor of the
Baptist church at Vancouver, who per-
formed the ceremony, visited the
woman in the city Jail there and in
stantly identified her as the bride at
the ceremony he performed October 81.
ho ~
though at first she tried to deny it.
She finally admitted having met him,
however.
Unknown Confederate.
The principal in the plot besides the
woman under arrest, is an unknown
man who is alleged to have been her
confederate, as a counterfeiting outfit
was found in this woman's possession,
and this same man Is supposed to have
worked with her in the making of spur
ious coin. He is still at large. Mrs.
Gordon is the woman who yesterday
created such a scene in the Portland
hotel Saturday night by taking to her
bed and refusing to go to prison, claim
ing that she was sick, although ply
sicians summoned testified that there
was nothing the matter with her.
The victim of the plot was Edward
Samuel Gordon, a wealthy citizen of
North Bend, Coos county, who has
been strangely missing for the past two
months. Friends have not heard from
him since he came to Portland after
reading the announcement OF his mar
riage in the papers, in an effort to dis
cover who it was that was posing as
his bride and to take legal. steps to
prevent the conspirators from securing
his property in the case of his death.
Mrs. Gordon, as she calls herself,
still claims that she was married to
E. S. Gordon of Coos county, and re-
fuses to give the name of her confed-
crate Who personated the wealthy tim
herman Later she claimed that she
and the original Mr.. Gordon were mar
ried at San Francisco three years ago.
Gordon's Affidavts.
When Gordon was here he secured
| affidavits to show that he was not the
principal in the wedding. He stated:
1T is a deliberate and cold-blooded
attempt to secure my money. l know
the woman who claims to be my wife II
in it. for Bertha Lerch was her maiden
name and she taught school in Coos
county. l have only one relative alive,
/ and that is my aged mother. The
woman knew of this and also knows
that 1 am IS years of age. had made
a will, bequeathing all my property to
my mother, and have deposited with
my attorney proofs regarding the al
legged wedding ceremony. In case any
thing happens to me and the woman
sets up the claim of being my wife,
my attorneys will have no trouble In
exposing the plot. I am in fear not
only of her wiles, but of bodily harm
for 1 was threatened while in Van
couver by a stranger who evidently
knew me-
-