The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-07-14

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san Jose, Cal, July 13.-Chris- =
= tan c. johnson, alias Anderson, :.
- alias Madison. who yesterday in the =
:! superior court pleaded guilty to =
:. bigamy, and was sentenced to serve =
seven years in San Quentin, left :.
> today in custody Of a deputy sheriff :.
= for the prison at that place. =
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San Francisco, July 13.-Christian c.
johnson, sentenced yesterday at San
Jose to serve. seven years in the peni-
Tertiary for bigamy. is reported to have
confessed that he Is the mysterious
John Madison" wanted in many parts
of the country for irregular matrimonial
ventures and systematic swindling of
women under promise of marriage.
Johnson's alleged confession, however,
which is printed today in a local news
paper, is so full of inconsistencies and
so at variance with statements he has
made since his arrest in the city prison
last week that the police authorities are
not inclined to give it full eredence.
Quit Horses for Women.
In this confession johnson declares
that he has been married 10 so many
women that he cannot count them Off
hand.
In 1906. he said. L quit my business
Of buying horses and from that time to
this l have been making my living BY
marrying and making love to women,
getting their money and then deserving
them"
One of his most amazing feats, ac-
cOrding to his own confession, was max
ing love TO ten women at one time in
Portland. Ore. While he admits that he
got money from most of them, and that
his marriages were part of a get-rieh-
quick system, johnson declares that in
every instance he spent the money he
received upon the victim herself. They
kept me broke all the time" is the way
he expresses it.
German by Birth.
Johnson was born in Germany and.
coming to this country in the seventies, |
secured a position with the United
States government buying horses for
the army on commission. This took him I
all over the country. Al first, he says I
he was a woman-hater, because he had 4
been separated from a sweetheart in |
Germany, who died later.
lie married the first of his many wives /
in Springfield. Mass, in 1905. She was /
Mrs. Mary Browne.
Il married only one woman under the /
name of John Madison" Johnson de- /
clared. Her names was Jones-if l re- /
member rightly. I got 81, 400 from her /
because she said she loved me. I could /
have gotten $4,000"
List of Eighteen Wives.
Eighteen of the women whom John /
son met, married and deserted within !
the last three years, according to the /
confession, were:
Mrs. Catherine Hoene, San Diego, |
Cal; Mrs. Josephine Tretheway, Stock /
ton, Cal; Mrs. Sylvia Pollard de Bon |
nett, San Francisco; Mrs. Henrietta /
Leopold, San Francisco; Eliza Jones, /
Portland. Ore; Mrs. Mary Brown, /
Springfield, Mass; Mrs. Frances Hep /
burn, Oakland, Cal. Miss Minnie Ca
her, San Francisco; Mrs. Josephine /
denninEer, Oakland; Mrs. Birdie King, /
Hot Springs, Ark; Mrs. Elizabeth NJ. /
Jackson, lola, KAN; Mrs. Mary Prick, |
East St Louis. H.; Catherine hospital i
nurse, St Louis, Mo-; Mrs. Richard Al |
isOn, st. Louis; Mrs. Catalina Baugh- /
man. St. Louis; Mrs. Minnie Allen, st. /
Louis; Mrs. Bertha King, Memphis, /
Tenn; Mrs. de Loem, wife of a sea 4
1aptain, Portland, Ore.
From most OF these women Johnson !
says he obtained money OF jeWelry or /
both.