Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-12-26
AND Girl.
ARE Arrested
MARRIED MAN FOUND IN Gill
CAGO HOTEL WITH is YEAR
OLD PONTIAC MISS.

/ h. Goodin of Pontiac. H., who claims
/ TO be Baptist minister, has been ar
rested in Chicago on a charge
Of abducting Anna Blanche Edgerton,
Is years old. The girl and Goodin
left Pontiac last Saturday. They
were found by Central station detec-
lives at the Michigan hotel, 1856 Mich
igan street, where they represented
themselves as husband and wife,
| Sheriff John w. Morse of Living
stone county took Goodin and the girl
back TO Pontiac last night. The faith
or of Miss Edgerton also was with
| them.
/ Goodin is Al years old He has a
wife at Pontiac to whom he was mar
ried several years ago.
| When confronted by the detectives
in his apartment at the Michigan hotel
he denied his identity, alleging that
| his name was Herbert DeMond.
| Sheriff Morse, who has known Goodin
more than q year, was called into the
| room and identified him.
/ Admit Their Identity
| Goodin and the girl were taken TO
| detective headquarters and questioned
(, by Capt. O'Brien Both admitted their
! identity and expressed a willingness
to return to Pontiac
/, 1t is alleged by Goodin that be
formerly was Roman Catholic priest,
having been educated for the priest
hood in Ireland. He admits that he
was excommunicatcd. but refuses to
| give the reason why he was expelled
from the church.
Il did wrong in deserving my wife
and running away with the girl" said
Goodin, but the harm is done and |
must face the music The girl is
more to blame than me. She kept
! running after me and I was weak. |
fell victim TO her guile and fed with
her That's all there it to it. l am
willing to suffer the consequences
Discredits Mans Story.
The difference in the ages of Goodin
and the girl leads Sheriff Morse to the
I belief that it was he who exerted the
influence.
She's only a Slip of a, girl" said
the sheriff, land don't believe Good
ms story. He's a cur to make such a
statement
Goodin says he has been pastor of
Baptist churches within the past year
at Graymont and Ocoya, Ill. The lat
ter town is a few miles from Pontiac,
and it was there he held his last pas.
torate.
The girls father, Frank Edgerton
is machinist and conducts repair
shop at Pontiac. About a year ago
Goodin brought a bicycle to the shop
to be repaired and met the daughter
whom he is charged with abducting.
Last September Edgerton took a
thrashing machine and a gang of men
with MIN TO South Dakota, where he
remained two months. His wife is
dead, and the six children, of whom
Anna Blanche is the oldest. were left
in the care of Goodin.
Came to- Chicago on Saturday.
| The Edgerton children lived with
the Goodins until their father returned
from the west. During the time that
Edgerton was away Goodin paid
marked attention to the girl. who. he
1 says, persuaded him to run away
with her" Last Sunday Goodin
came to Chicago He had told his wife
some days in advance that his mission
here was to arrange for lecture toul
through Michigan and Wisconsin.
/ 81 may not return for a week OF
more, he told his wife, "and you car
write to me III care of the general de
livery
I On the same train that bore Goodil
away from Pontiac Miss Edgerton also
was passenger. She and Goodin had
planned to leave town, but the minister
told her that they must not be seer
together on the train. Between Pom
tiac and Chicago Goodin visited the
girl two or three times in the coach
and brought her fruit
Tells Girl What to Say.
On their arrival in Chicago Goodir
told the girl that if any questions
were asked Of her she must say thai
she was married. They went first Il
the Chicago hotel, l54 Clark street
where Goodin left his satchel 1t was
nearly s o'clock and they went to {
restaurant for supper.
After the meal they went in search
of room. where, as Goodin told The
: girl. it would be quiet, and where
they would not be apt to be seen by
| any one from Pontiac
Goodin engaged apartments at The
Michigan hotel about II O'Clock tina
night. The next evening he and the
girl visited the Rev. William Day,
: negro evangelist, who lives at 355!
} Armour avenue. He introduced th'
girl as his wife, saying that he hat
married her two weeks before a
Pontiac.
The Rev. Mr.. Day has known Good
in five or six years, and did not doub
the story OF his marriage, although h.
thought the girl young.