Los Angeles herald., 1907-07-07
SIPS POISON
TO ESCAPE
HUSBANDS
Twice Wed and Never
Divorced, Woman
Seeks Release
Tries to Kill Herself
in Presence of
Both Men
Policeman Snatches Vial from Her
Lips, and Husbands Agree to
Compromise Satisfactory
to All Concerned

Eight years ago in far away Scandi-
navia pretty Christine Olsen was mar
ried to John w. Forsberg Together
the young peopl, came to America to
make their fortune.
Five years ago they came to South
ern California and settled in San Ber-
nardino. A year ago they quarreled
and the husband, who was a machinist
in the employ of the Santa Fe Railroad
company, went to Sacramento and en-
tered the employment of the Southern
Pacific railroad.
Eight months ago Mrs. Forsberg be-
came acquainted with C. B. Logsdon, a
fireman employed by the Santa Fe, and
on June II she was married to him at
San Bernardino without having first
gone through the formality of securing
a divorce from Forsberg.
Last night in a Crocker street cot
tage. confronted by her two husbands
and two police officers, Mrs. Forsberg-
Logsden attempted to commit suicide
and thus rid herself of the social, do
mestic and legal complications she had
brought upon herself by her second
marriage.
Woman Prays for Death
qulck move by police officer in
knocking the deadly draught from her
lips before she had imbibed all of it
and quicker trip to the receiving hos
pital where DIR. Tebbetts gave such
antidotes as were required saved her
life and now she is an inmate of the
matrons department of the city Jail
bemoaning her fate and praying for
death.
The story, as gathered piecemeal from
the lips of the respondent and desper-
ate woman and from her husbands, is
as follows:
From the land of the midnight sun
Mr.. and Mrs. Forsberg came first to
Montreal, Canada. After few months
there they moved to Chicago, where
the husband was employed as a ma
chiniSt in large manufacturing con-
Germ on South listed street. In 1902
they came to Southern California and
settled in San Bernardino, where Fors-
berg was employed as a machinist in
the repair shops of the Santa Fe Rail
road company.
AT the same time, with the permis-
sion of his boss, Forsberg opened
boarding house for railroad men, of
which his wife was manager. For four
years their life moved along evenly.
Have Serious Quarrel
Then there was a serious quarrel.
What it was about neither Forsberg
nor the woman would say. At all
events he left her with the boarding
house and went away to Sacramento,
where he secured a position in the
shops of the Southern Pacific company
as foreman in the lathe department.
There he worked, believing that in a
short time his wife would come to him.
In the meantime Mrs. Forsberg ran
the boarding house and carried on the
business of the establishment as If
nothing had occurred to interrupt the
daily tenor of her life. Then there came
to board at the place G. B. Logsdon, a
fireman working for the S nta Fe COM
pany. He and Mrs. Forsberg became
great friends. He remarked on her
loneliness and tried to amuse her by
taking her to theaters and ther places
of entertainment
According to Logsdon, Mrs. Fors-
berg represented herself as a grass
.ow. From simple friendship their
acquaintance ripened into a warmer
1eeling, and in June, when Logsdon
proposed marriage, Mrs. Forsberg ac-
cepted and on June IL Justice Thomas
OF san Bernardino united them in the
bonds of wedlock.
Come to Los Angeles
Soon afterward Logsdon was trans
ferred from San Bernardino to Los
Angeles and the newly married couple
removed to this city and went to live
at 1874 Crocker street
The new marriage relation did not
seem to suit Mrs. Forsberg, for two
weeks ago she wrote to her first hus-
band, confessing that she had married
another man in his absence, but adding
that she did not like him, as she was
not treated well. She begged husband
No. l to come and take her away to
Sacramento.
Forsberg came to Los Angeles yes
terday morning. He hunted up his wife
and Logsdon and it was then that the
latter learned for the first time that
his supposed wife's first husband was
not divorced from her.
All day long the two men and the
woman conferred on the question and
last night when it seemed that there
was no way out of the complications
Mrs Forsberg- -Logsdon left the house,
went to drug store and purchased a
mixture of chloroform and camphor to
be used as a liniment, she said.
Meantime the two men had been talk
ing rather excitedly and neighbors sent
word to the police that fight was in
progress. Patrolmen Berchtold and
Oker went to the house and found the
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