The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-06-21
SUSPECT WIFE
DFSFRTFR MAY
BE A BIGAMIST
Had Crime on Mind Prior to
Leaving Bride of Only
Eight Days
Confessed TO Friend He Had
Been Living Under an
Assumed Name
LssseiaI DispaleL 10 The Ceal


OAKLAND, June 2e.-Attorney George
Collins downfall because OF bigamX
and perjury presumably was the cause
~ the mysterious dissppesrsnce OF
Fred A Thompson. who on June Il de-
serted the woman whom he married
June ; under the name or Fred Brown.
The reason for his perturbation and
departure turks behind rumors that the
missing man left wife in Los Angeles
OF whom Mrs. Matilda Peterson Brown.
his Oakland bride. knows nothing.
Thompson was employed as a fore
1rsn on construction work b. the Oak
land traction company. He was known
10 his employers and associates as
Brown. but. ostensibly because he
feared detection. conhded TO brother
lodge members that he was living I'M
der sn alias. He averred privately that
his true name was r A Thompson.
C0URTSHIP is SHORT
Tsss ma-riag TO Mrs. Matilda Peter
son followed g very brief courtship-
Rev. Marion Drury performed the cere-
rnonv on June 2. with Mr. and Mrs
Rrundson As witnesses. Close on the
tying Of the nuptial knot came the end
% Collins fight for freedom: and
Thompson or Brown evineed an un-
usual interest in bigamous procedure
and punishment
on Friday June j. the husband read
carefully the newspapers he had &C
cumulsted which told OF Collins plight
lie discussed the penalties Of bigamy
with his bride, and' moraliEed with her
on the certainty Of the sin finding out
its perpetrator-
This was on ThOmpson's, or Brown :.
mind that evening when he parted
sTably from his bride and tsld her he
would attend an entertainment that
evening By an Oakland camp Of Wood
nnen/of the World. He repeated that
he would return at $50 or 10 o'clock.
Since then his wife has not seen him
md has reported his prolonged absence
10 the police.
WIFE INVESTIGATES
Mrs Brown also has done some in
Vestigating. Among other details she
las learned that there was no Wood
men Of the World function on the
nie'ht OF June H.
Nevertheless. Mrs. Brown is anxious
10 End her husband She has made
trips TO the police station and given
descriptions OF the absent man. Her
lAOM i AdIAs d. 4lEiAE liAS-l
short acqueintsnceship Thompson told
her little Of himself Among the
things he said was that his family
lived in Kentucky. where he was born
end where his a ged mother, whom he
supported during her life, died two
years ago.
According to his bride. Brown. OF
Thompson. is the son OF a confederate
soldier who lost his life in the re-
bellion. OF his own Los Angeles resi-
dence Thompson was vague to his
wife, explaining that ne had stopped
there for q while
He told me that a man al So Hamp-
shire street. San Francisco. who was
a grand master in the Woodmen. had
his private papers in a safe. I do not
know whether that is true said Mrs
Brown. I have no idea why my hus-
band left me. for we parted good
friends. and he did not have very much
money. I knew him only short time
before I married him, but he seemed
= fine man. He had no bad habits. die
not drink nor gamble. But some OF
the things he told me were not true
Mrs. Brown lives at 230 Hannah
street She does not own the house
but has occupied it for long time, and
after the wedding Brown went there
10 live