Goldsboro semi-weekly argus., 1909-11-06
Be quick and decisive.


6oooooooooooooooooooooooo
San Francisco, Cal.-One Of the
most remarkable confessions ever
made by a bigamist in the United.
States has been obtained from Chris.
tian G. johnson.
This nice old gentleman bigam1st,
now in San Quentin prison, serving
o term Of seven years. Is a living testi-
monial Of the fact that the women Of
this country are on stampede to the
hymeneal altar. johnson did not be-
gin his Bluebeard career until he had
reached the ripeness Of sixty, was
portly, gray-haired and a tr1fe stiff in
the joints. Yet he had only to step
into the open and announce: Ladies,
/ am looking for wife," and they
docked to him in q headlong rush.
In three years this venerable Don
Juan married six and proposed and
was accepted by eighteen. More than
o thousand others wrote to him that
they were hunting a husband and his
description of himself sounded allur-
ing. Had this mice old man" been
able to arrange his dates with facility
he might have led bride to the altar
every day in the year.
"My experience has taught me"
said the bigamist, on his way to pris-
on. that women are fools. Any kind
or condition of man can marry as
often as he wishes. He need only
bear in mind the following rules:
Don't be soft or sweet with them.
"Treat them little harshly.
BE q little distant, and she will
surely come to you.
do not waste time with manoeu.
vres."
Johnson says that the women he
met fell in love with him after he had
talked to them a few times. He did
not indulge in what he termed calf
glances" or "goo-goo" eyes.
But this mily, white-haired enchant-
er was not in the marrying business
for sentiment He had been horse
trader all his life. and wearied Of its
tedium. He had read how Johann
Hoch and other notorious bigamists
had feeced their sQuadrons of wives.
They had begun little earlier than
he. Consequently he thought he could
better their plans with more mature
judgment.
Bigamist Johnson could not recall
the names of all his flancees. Their
names had been legion. He named
eleven from whom he had obtained
sums ranging from 500 to $1,000 and
left In the lurch, for the most part
waiting at the church.
There may be others, he admits, as
his memory is not absolutely to be
depended upon in the rush from altar
to altar and hurried fit from one
honeymoon to another. He courted.
for instance, he says, ten women at
once in Portland, Ore.
The majority of his victims are
widows. Some of them still love the
nice old bigamist Mira. Josephine
Henninger. of Oakland. whom ha
cruelty deceived. followed him to
San Quentin Prison. Johnson had tax
en- all her money from her, she said,
but she still loved him. Others in
the California lot OF his wives have
confessed to the police that they can
not shake OF their love for the pro-
fessional enchanter, even though
they know he did not return the sen.
timent
The officers on the train which boro
Johnson to San Quentin would not al
low Mrs. Henninger to approach
him. Nevertheless. the woman fol-
lowed him to the gates Of the prison
and threw kiss as he entered the
Jail yard. The old bigamist has been
put to work Ia the jute mill
In his detailed confession this
amazingly fascinating old man not
only gave suggestions on how to WOO
and wed Wholesale, but uttered q
caution to womankind.
'T would warn all women against
marrying man who talks too sweet, I"
he said. "He has something up his
sleeve every time. Marry a business
man-one who will talk business al
ways. Widows particularly should
pay heed to this advice. for they are
most easily Influenced"
johnson said that in many cases
he had to resist the ardent wooing di-
rected against him. eff a man says
nice things to most of them," he said.
'they will smile and smirk until the
poor man finds himself taking pity
on them and proposing. You can win
them either way-by being stern or
distant or being sweet II one way
does not work. the other surely will.