Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-23
MARRIED TO SOMEBODY.
But Minister Thinks Mrs. Walkers
Groom Was Not McCool.


A dispatch from New York says Rev.
John Floyd Steen, the Episcopal minister,
who, Mrs. Frank Walker says, married her
to Peter F. McCool, the millionaire Pitts
burg oil producer, said yesterday that by
comparison Of signatures he did not believe
that the man who posed as McCool at the
ceremony was the real McCool.
McCool. whose trial on the charges of
wife abandonment and nonsupport are to
be heard in Pittsburg, issued statement
declaring that he was the victim of a
matchmaking conspiracy; that he did not
marry Mrs. Walker, and that another man
used his name.
McCool has been living in Butler, Pa,
with the wife he married eighteen years
ago. She is the acknowledged social leader
of that town.
Mrs. Walker, who was daughter Of a
Mrs. OfNeill. in Rochester, has lived the
last two years In fine mansion in Pitts
burg, which. she says, was given to her by
McCool. In her complaint Mrs. Walker
says she was married to McCool in the
home of her sister, Mrs. B. Scott 261
West 42d street. New York, June 10. 1904,
by Rev. Mr.. Steen of the Ascension Me-
mortal Church
At the 42d street house Mrs. B. Scott
Is not known. The city directory has also
overlooked her.
II remember Mrs Walker very WE'LL"
said the minister, because of her brilliant
red hair and her fair complexion. 1t is
such beauty as one sees only once in a
lifetime. She came to my house late at
night on June 10. 1904, with a man, and I
married them. The man said he was
Peter F. McCool of Pittsburg, but IL he
really was. of course. I do not know.
Since then I have compared the sigma
ture Of the real McCool to the signature at
I married to Mrs. Walker, and they do not
at all agree. I should say they were not
written by the same man.
"a few weeks ago Mrs. Walker and her
lawyer called on me- he continued, land
recognized her at once because of her re-
markable beauty, although had not seen
her since the night I performed the cere-
mony. They asked me to make an afl-
davit that had performed the ceremony
which made her the wife of Peter F. Nc
Cool Of Pittsburg. I modified this affidavit
to read that had married her to man
who said he was Peter F. McCool of Pitts
burg. AS I recall the ceremony, it was a
very sudden and impromptu affair. They
came to my house late one night and said
they were in hurry to be married. Both
said they had never been married before,
and did not hesitate to perform the cere-
mony."
One of the sensations to be developed by
the hearing OF Mrs. Walkers charges Is
that she was the mysterious woman In
black" who displayed such poignant grief
at the bier Of the late Senator Matthew s.
Quay, In May, 1904, q few months before
she says she was married to McCool.
Mrs. Walker was identified as the "wom-
an in black by lifelong political friend
of the late senator. He said with great
positiveness:
There Is no possibility that I am mis-
taken in the woman. I remember the incl
dent well. She was in mourning, and her
splendid auburn hair and creamy complex
ion showed in startling contrast to her
black garments.
1.-THE church at Beaver. where Senator
Quay's funeral service was held was small.
Those whose claims to admission could not
be denied filed 1t: many others tried to get
In. but were rebuffed I was at the church
door when this woman made her last vain
effort to enter,
"A heavy ralnstorm broke during the fu-
neral service. and very few persons, except
the family and close friends, went to the
cemetery. It was pouring rain when the
casket was carried from the hearse to the
grave. Just az the casket was being low
cred I saw this woman standing by the
edge of tho grave. touching elbows with
some Of the senator's oldest friends.
AFTER the ministers last words I saw
Senator Quay's private secretary bare his
head to the rain and shake hands with the
woman. intended to inquire who she was,
but In the hurry following the funeral the
incident passed out of my mind"