The San Francisco call., 1908-12-07
BLAKE W[DS WOMAN
WHOPOSFDAS WIFE
Prisoner Who Is Star Witness
Against Attorney Murphy
Marries Pearl Bennett
District Attorneys Permits the
Ceremony to Take Place
in Marin County

When E. A. S. Blake reappears on
the witness stand in the Frank j. Muir
ply case this morning to submit him
faced with the fact that Friday last
he went to San Rafael, with the sane
ton of District Attorney Langdon, and
married Pearl Bennett, the young
woman who has been passing as his
wife, and for whom Abe Ruef, through
Frank j. Murphy, promised as the price
of silence to provide for to the extent of
S100 month during the period of
Blake'S Incarceration.
Blake strongly implicated Murphy
Saturday in the attempted bribery of
John Martin Kelly, a venireman in the
Ruef case, for which crime Blake has
already been convicted. To break down
this testimony if possible or to weaken
it Murphy's lawyers will attack the
woman.
Pearl Bennett Blake. who has been
a professional harpist, and has ap-
peared at the Lyceum theater and the
Cafe Odeon, recently secured a divorce
from her first husband, who lives in
Pennsylvania. She is a sufferer from
consumption, and Blake befriended her
in her infirmity.
AGREEMENT TO MARRY
Eight months ago the couple made
a written agreement to marry as soon
as the divorce courts would issue the
final decree in her case. The exposure
of Blake's completely in the attempt to
bribe John Martin Kelly, followed by
his arrest and subsequent conviction,
disturbed those plans
During the period of the Blake trial
his present wife attended him in court
and was present the day he confessed.
Through all that time Blake planned
to marry the woman.
District Attorney Langdon, under
standing that Blake wished to make
reparation to Pearl Bennett and to full
fiji the agreement he had made to marry
her as soon as she was legally free,
gave permission Friday that Blake
could be taken to San Rafael by dep
uty sheriff. On Langdon's request
Sheriff Dolan granted permission for
Blake to be taken from the jail
Deputy Sheriff A. S. Young went
across the bay to the Marin county
seat with Blake and Miss Bennett on
this particular wedding trip. The dep
uty sheriff was the best man at the
nuptials. Justice OF the Peace H. de
la Montanya of San Rafael performed
the services. After the wedding Blake
was returned to the county jail.
Mrs. Blake appeared at the Jail yes
terday and visited all afternoon with
her husband.
MRS. BLAKE TALKS
Mr.. Blake and had a written agree
ment to marry" she said, "and Friday
we were able to fulfill it. BY profess
sion 1 am harpist and have played at
the Lyceum theater in this city and at
the Cafe Odeon, and positively in no
other places. The statement that
have sung at other theaters is false;
l am not vocalist. l was deserted
by my first husband, who is now in
Pennsylvania, and from him 1 very re-
Gently secured a final decree of divorce
on the ground of desertion"
Blake's new matrimonial experience
is viewed with interest in the light
of his appearance on the witness stand
in the Murphy case. The defense places
great store In the tact that when he
confessed Blake said that he had ne
gotiated with Murphy to secure a set
tlement of 500 a month for his wife
The point is made that Blake perjured
himself on material point when he
referred to this woman as his wife.
The district attorneys Office declares
that Blake's previous reference to the
woman he since married as his wife
is not a material point but was the
natural reference that man would
make to the woman who passed as his
wife.
Under Sheriff Peter ]. Haggerty said
yesterday that the sheriff's office grants
all requests of the district attorney
regarding temporary movements of
prisoners, and that no illegal act was
committed in allowing Blake to cross
the bay.