Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-18
Minister Confesses Keeping Sep
arate Home for "Heart Mate"
Posing as Widow.
WOMAN SWEARS LOYALTY
Amazing Story Of How Rev. J. W.
Foster Maintained Two Iden-
titles Told by Police,

An infatuation rivalling that Of At
torney Melvin II. Couch, of Month
cello, n. Y, and his love slave"
Adelaide Branch, who lived as the
heart wife of the brilliant lawyer
without detection until his death re-
vealed the secret, was discovered on
Saturday night in the arrest of the
Rev. j. w. Foster, a former Baptist
preacher, and Mrs. Maud Dean, a
pretty young woman of % years.
u shall stay by him forever" she
said in her cell at police station. IF
they keep him in Jail / want to. be
imprisoned, too. II he must suffer
for our wrong doing, ] want to suffer
with him.
Il don't care what the cost may be.
I am prepared to stand by him to the
end. If they should never let him
out I should be willing to stay in a
cell all my life"
Preachers Dual Life.
At the same time that Mrs. Dean
was weeping over the wreck of her
sordid romance, Foster was confess
ing to an astounding duplicity that
he had practicsd in order to be with
the object of his infatuation.
That Foster, who preached two
weeks ago at the Plum Street Church.
lived in Atlanta and maintained two
entirely separate identities for months
without any trouble at all. is the
amazing story told by the police.
The Rev, J. w Foster" vas the
name by which he was known at No.
5S6 Gordon street, West End. where
he lived part of the time with his
wife and their seven children. the two
eldest of whom are married.
j. W. Dean" was the personality
he assumed when he was at No 60
walker street, Mrs Deans apart
ments. He came and went without
any comment being aroused, the DO
lice said, it being generally accepted
that he was Mrs. Deans husband. as
she represented him to be.
Foster slemes Wife.
Foster probably could have contin-
ued Ills Jekyll-Hyd existence indea-
nltely had not an apparently trihine
incident aroused the suspicion Of AS
sistant Probation officer 3. 3. Posev.
who started the investigation.
The eX-mnister made a complete
confession, according to the police.
He placed all of the blame for his
condition on his Wife.
IF she hadn't bounded me and
nagGed me and overwhelmed me
with suspicious, l never would have
left the ministry. She simply drove
me out of my calling. She unwar-
rantedly accused me of paying at
tentions to the wives of the deacors
in our church in Waco. Texas. where
| had a pastorate before coming to
Atlanta about two years ago. She
made life miserable for me and made
it impossible for me to continue III
the ministry.
Finally, she utterly shut me out
of her affections and the result was
that I fell in love with Mrs Dean
who sympathized with me in my
troubles. Had it not been for that
this never would have happened"
Heart Wife" HystericaI.
Mrs. Dean became hysterical soon
after she was arrested with Foster
at her apartments Saturday night
and taken to the station. When
bonds for the two had been fixed at
$500 each and the turnkey opened
the door to the cell block. she uttered
one piercing scream after another.
throwing her hands over her eyes at
the sight Of the barred cells.
Foster has been engaged in the
real estate business during his two
years residence in Atlanta, although
he has preached occasionally when
opportunity offered. He came from
Waco. Texas, where he held a Bap-
fist pastorate. His acquaintance
with Mrs. Dean is said to have begun
in Waco, where the attractive young
woman was boarder at his home.
He is 48, She is %.
She is reported to have come to
at about the same time he
and his family made the trip. He is
As wears Of age and she is % She
told the police that she separated
from her husband some time ago and
that she did not know where he was
She denied, under the questioning
Of B. B. Posey and Detective Giles
pie, who made the arrest. that she
was the Mrs. Dean who had deserted
her husband in Virginia recently.
She said that she never had been in
virginia