The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-10-24
John Behne, Who Married Nauvoo
Girl Whom He Had Wife Living
Must Pay Penalty for
His Crime.
INDICTED AT CARTHAGE
Grand Jury Returned Charges Against
Him, His Plea Was Made and
Court Sentenced
Him.

| CARTHAGE, ILL, oct. 24.-With
the same smile and care free air that
has marked his demeanor since his ar
rest, John Behne, by his own admit
lance, "a charmer of women" and
who deserted his wife and two chill
dren in Burlington to marry Miss
Verna Miller at Carthage. H., several
months ago, heard Judge Greer of the
Hancock county court, sentence him,
! Wednesday morning, to from one 10
five years in the Illinois state prison
i at Joliet.
] Following Indictment by the grand
| jury of the October term Of the han
cock county court, which reported
| Wednesday morning, Behne realizing
the futility Of fighting the charges,
pleaded guilty and asked for i'm
mediate sentence.
| His Bright Smile Haunts Him Still.
| From the day of his arrest, Behne
has smiingly bent to the will Of the
| law. He has admitted every accuse
ton and although feeling no pangs of
| conscience for his act, has repeatedly
declared that he wanted his trial ito
be short and snappy." 80 that he could
Degln MS sentence.
Behne will go to Joliet with the
knowledge that both his legal wife
and the girl he married Illegally have
turned against him His wife, who
filed charges of desertion and child
abandonment against him, and dis.
covered that her husband had married
another woman, has aided the author.
ties in convicting Behne. verna Miller,
the girl wronged by Behne, at first
lukewarm in the prosecution finally
threw her aid to the state. Both
women gave testimony before the
grand jury at Carthage, Monday and
Tuesday.
Alone In His Glory.
No relatives of Behne, his wife nor
the girl, were in the court room when
he was sentenced This fact, how
ever, did not seem to impress Behne
as he entered the court room smiling
and left with the same smirk on his
face.
He will be taken to Joliet by Sheriff
Bennett of Hancock county on Sat
urday or Monday, it was announced.
Behne, who was born and raised
in Burlington returned from service in
the army early in the year. Last
spring he went to Fort Madison and
found employment in the roundhouse
of the Santa Fe railroad there. He
sent several small amounts of money
to his wife, but even these allotments
finally stopped coming. The wife, I'M
able to keep herself and the children
clothed and fed on her meager earn
ings as part-time domestic in homes
in Burlington, repeatedly asked her
husband for assistance.
A Wedding Gift.
In the metntime Behne met Miss
Verna Miller, daughter of farmer
living near Nauvoo, who had COM
pleted course in business college
at Fort Madison and was working in
an office in that city Representing
himself as a single man, they were
married at Carthage.
( On the day they were married Mrs.
Behne filed complaint with the police
department in Buslington asking the
arrest of her husband on a charge Of
desertion. She was unaware that her
husband had married again. When
Behne and his bride returned to Fort
Madison after several days of honey
incoming at the home Of the girls
parents, he learned the police we're
seeking him He remained in seclu
sion. Two days later his bride"
learned the truth, and when Behne
returned to his rooms he found her
missing. An hour later he was in
custody Of the police.
The charge of desertion filed against
him by his wife was withdrawn and
Behne was taken to Carthage where
charges Of bigamy were filed against
T.