The San Francisco call., 1910-09-17
PATHETIC TALE
. UNRAVELED BY
Girl BIGAMIST
Between SObs, Unfortunate
Woman Tells of Struggle in
World Since Thirteen
Thread of Misery Knots Itself
Around History of the
Unhappy Victim
By MARY AsHE MILLER


:: likewise an illegal claimeto the name
.:ot Murphy, having married the second
J: time without The formality of divorce
5. from Stewart. She is now in the city
{. prison. charged with b:gamy,' a tele-
+: gram erom Los Angeles causing her
! arrest as soon as she stepped from the
steamer President yesterday.
=: Who had me arrested?" she asked
+, me- Was Z Murphy? He knew I was
: married before, but he said il didn't
=: really matter Afterward he told me-
-. though that he'd have me arrested if
!. ever tried 70 leave him. I wasn't ex-
= pecting anything ike this. I thought
:. come here and get some work and
20 TO night school, never finished the
= grammar grades yet-and then as soon
*as knew enough 7 was going to be a
strained nurse. I got a friend who is
( studying nursing in one of the hos
pitals and 1 wanted 10 do that, too. I
don't know what viii happen TO me
now"
Sne looked about Is as she came out
Of her cell 10 talk 10 me yesterday
AFTERNOON. She wore a short little blue
land white cotton gown with a Dutch
meek and her brown hair was rolled
!. simply around her head She has q
:roQnd. rather babyish, face without
=nlucn beauty save youth and a dimple
..-oI two. Her big blue eyes are her best
: leatureS and tneE were heavy and
= she was ashamed. she told, me with
!. una ffected directness. 10 be in iail but
sne accepted the situation with a sort
aof q wondering acQ Quiescence- 1t is ap-
:parent that this same acquiescence has
: been the cause Of all her troubles. She
IS one Of the amiable, unresisting.
.chlld-Women who should have been
guarded from the wickedness of the
'world-"the sheltered life" should have
5: been her portion.
: MADE OWN WAY
= Instead she has been making her
own way since she was 13. She told
:me all about 1t, with no idea of the
- sordid little tragedies she disclosed in
every sentence, and her only plea for
= sympathy was the one sentence: 1T
amt wonder made some mis-
takes"
: Her father died when she was
years OLD and her mother married
again. man named Cook, who, ac-
cording 10 her tale. has been her best
: friend.
Ny mother always hated me-or at
least she never seemed TO like me any,"
the little prisoner said. She said I
hsd@to get out. and she never. writes TO
me now nor anything. I think she's
-: here some place. but she never lets
me hear from her. She's divorced from
b my stepfsther and he's got my little
. sister, Minnie. I think an awful lot
Of my little sister, wanted to 20
: right out 10 see her, but they brought
me here
When Clara Belle was 16 her mother
turned her adrift, and she was told by
Mrs. Stewart. a neighbor, that she
might come and live with her and help
- with the work. This she did, working
in a laundry as well Mrs. Stewart had
. q son, John. about %. who drove one
of the laundry wagons, and he and
Clara Belle began going together" as
she phrased It In July. after the fire,
her stepfather discovered that affairs
Iwere not as they should be, and he
~egade young Stewart marry her. The
following October her baby was born
.-and then began q life of misery for
. her. The young father would not con-
:, tribute anything TO the support of his
!. child, who was cared for by Mrs.
+ Stewart senior.
=. He was awful mean to me- said the
=: little wife He used TO beat me and
:. treat me just dreadful and I had to
work 70 get money 10 help take care of
= my baby. I stood him for two years,
and then I Just couldn't any more, so
Il left him and lived with my step
; father and my little sister"
OCCUPATIONS NUMEROUS
: Every sort Of an occupation seems to
have been hers. but she is stanch in
@-her assertions that she was always a
good al right girl
She denied Murphy's assertion that
she had been married to J. H. Mccoy
petty officer on the cruiser Pennsyl-
yanis- Mr.. Mccoy was an awful
good friend of mine and he was going
TO help me get a divorce from my hus-
band and then he was going to marry
me- She said. but we had quarrel
and ] got hasty and went to Los An
Il rF-f11 "a -F,,I
mad when he hears that and / don't see
any use in Murphy dragging him into
this. don't know where he is now
but 7 think his ship is in Chile. I met
Murphy last January and never wrote
10 him for a long time and then at
last I did. I went to Los Angeles in
June 10 help take care of his mother
F: who was sick
II didn't care much about marrying
= Murphy; they said that he was engi-
NJ on the Whipple. He was not any
ting Of the kind; he was just COM
mon fireman"
BY this time she was calmer than
when she first began to talk. but oc-
casionslly the memory of her woes
. would come over her and the tears
would rise and she would choke back
:: her sobs.
D.. 1T was Murphy's mother that was
always nagging me TO marry him as he
ee+AlNaQ laAt 10 enc ElQQ know i 0
90 been married before. She was a kind
- ~ q cranky old woman and she wanted
:. ne TO keep on working for her At
+ last I just went TO a justice of the
-:,peace and married Murphy 1 knew il
: was wrong. she acknowledged. but
p J. guess didn't think anything much
:: about it. They bothered me so"
LIVES AT MURPHY RESIDENCE
Since July she has been living in the
Murphy residence in the south. Murphy.
was awful cruel to me-" she said: -he
never beat me. but he never gave me
any money and I never had any author
-]ty IN the house. They just treated me
ike 1 was servant, and he was always
telling his mother about me and saying
4 did everything so I couldn't please
MIN So / just made up my mind to
come up here. / was going out to
my stepfathers and Monday was com
. ing down town to get a place working"
/. Then the tears welled up afresh at
:. 1 ne downfall of her modest ambitions
: and her resolves to begin life all over
again She has no plans apparently;
;. her suitcase was left behind in Los
Angeles and she is freezing. she saws.
? ln q thin dress; she is ashamed to apply
:. to her stepfather for help, because he