The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1908-05-14
W0MAN B|GAMIS1
GETS HER LIBERTY
GRAND RAPIDS (WIS) CASE SET
TIED ON A WRIT OF HA-
BEAS CORPUS.
HUSBAND NO. 2 MADE CHARGE.
Violet De Camp Married at Age of IA
and Later Took Another Spouse,
Thinking Herself Free.
SHE WAS IGNORANT OF THE LAW.

GRAND RAPIDS, Wis. May IL
Especial. l-Considerab local interest
has been manifested in the case of the
state of Wisconsin VS.. Violet T. Levin,
on the charge of Digamy, which case was
SET Tor trlai at the spring term OF the
circuit court for this county, which COu-
Vened today. The defendant, through
the Efforts OF her attorney, George l..
lainDrecEt, was brought up for hear
ing on habeas corpus proceedings Satur-
day, and was discharged from custody,
anu she Immediately left the city for
California, where she will make her tu-
ture home.
The case Is the result of a peculiar
matrimonial tausle and was started last
December, When sheriff We!ch of this
county, went 70 GAINESVILLE and arrested
me defendant, who was known here as
Mrs. George c. Payne. 1t seems that
Mrs, Ley IN TOR Payne, who was for
lue"ly Violet DeCamp, was married to
Paul Levin in the city of Chicago some
fifteen years ago, when she was Just past
Ii years old, and he not quite 10. Short
ly after this child marriage" Levin il
said to have left his wife aud drifted to
Wisconsin. where ne got into trouble and
was arrested on serious charge. He
was tried and convicted to term of
years in Waupun.
iItI StlOuu
In the meantime, his wife came to
this city, where she met George c.
Payne, and after short courtship mar
ried him on May 30, 1902, without first
going through the tormality of Il divorce
proceeding from her former husband. \
sister of the former husband told Mrs.
Payne 1t seems, that her first marriage
with Levin was null and void on ac-
count of her youth at the time she con
ing further advice she believed herself
free TO marry again, and inuOcently laid
herself open to the charge now preferred
against her.
1t seems that Levin heard of her
marriage to Payne. and he managed to
communicate with her, and told her that
she was still his CLeNin'sl wife. An in
vestigation followed and it proved TO be
true, so IN September last Mrs Payne
sued for and procured a divorce from
husband No. l, thinking thereby to
remedy, 50 far as lay in he, power the
, wrong she had innocently perpetrated.
The whole affair caused so much talk
and trouble in the Payne family that
Mrs. Payne. or Levin. decided to leave
husband No. > last December and go to
see husband No. l. who was still in
aupun, serving time, and when she
saw No. l. their old differences
were patched up and it was decided that
employment there and wait for her first
husband to be released from the pcni-
tertiary, from which he was released on
April 20, just past.
No. 2 Swears to Warrant.
The actions of his supposed wife So
weighed on TIE mind of Payne that he
swore out warrant for her arrest on
the charge of blgamy, and he had the
sheriff sent after her. When the sheriff
returned with the wife to this city, Payne
tried to overcome Ger iufatuation for
lie Vim, but failed. Payne said that he
had her arrested only that she might be
brought back for reconciliation with
him, and would then like to drop the
case against her, but the wife decided
not TO have anything further to do with
Payne, and he learned in any event that
the case was then in hands of the state
and not in his power to drop. At her
hearing last December before Justice
Brown of this city, she was bound over
to the spring term of the circuit court
to stand trial. under $500 bail. Payne,
thinking thereby to win back the WON
ans affections Immediately furnished
the necessary bonds for her appearance,
so that she would not have to stay in
jail in the meanwhile.
Husband No. l was released from the
penitentary April 20 and came TO his
wifes assistance soon after, with the
result that he and Payne had consider
able trouble, and Payne, fearing that the
defendant might jump her bail bond, de-
cided on April 80 to deliver her over TO
the sheriff, and was thereby released
from her bonds, and she was then, and
up to yesterday, confined in the county
Jail, Payne claiming that rather than see
her become reconciled to her first hus-
band that he would prosecute the charge
of bigamy to the end that the supposed
wife might be sent to the penitentiary.
Leaves for the West.
Attorney Hambrecht secured her re-
lease on habeas corpus proceedings The
writ was asked for, and was granted on
the theory that Payne was not the prop
er party to institute the criminal action,
there being an equal presumption of law
in favor of the legality of each Of the
marriages, until the first marriage was
proven by competent evidence, and that
neither husband was n competent wit
ness to question the legality of his own
marriage. The point was well taken,
and the writ granted, which resulted in
her release from custody. Immediately
after the defendant was discharged she
left the city for California, where she
expects to make her home among rela-
tives.