The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-13
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director,
Washington, D. G.
moo MANY sPouSEs.


bigamist?
This question is receiving much So
Der, scientific discussion in New YORK
as a result of the tremendous number
Of bigamy cases that have recently
filled the courts. AS far as psycholo-
gists can dope it out, there are two
distinct types of bigamists-the kind
that deliberately goes in for plural
marriage as money making PROPOSE
ton, and the kind that marrleS over
and over again for lack of the heart
to refuse.
There is Florence, for instance.
Florence is mere flapper of Is. and
she has already had two husbands in
the space of few months. Her first
marriage took place last November
when she was welded to 19-year-old
youth who worked in a cheese factory.
Florence deserted this youth after
few days. On April 2 she married
again, this time a 23-year-old iron
riveter, who promised her a honey
moon to Philadelphia But Florence
about her first marriage.
When arrested. on the charge of big
amy, the girl simply shrugged her
shoulders. why worry?" she soothed
her mother, who had burst into tears.
They can't do anything to me. I'm a
minor"
This careless attitude toward the
holy state of matrimony was also
Haunted in court by a young stock ac-
tor who was recently arrested in a
novel manner for having more than
his legal quota of wives.
He was playing juvenile in a New
England stock company when he re-
ceived a telegram from a wife asking
him to hurry to New York at once.
She would meet him in the PennsyI-
vania station.
Jack hastily packed his suitcase and
did as he was told. AS he came thru
the Boston train gate, small, blond
woman rushed forward and threw her
arms about his neck.
Hello, Kid" said Jack tenderly.
The next moment detective
placed heavy hand on Jacks Shout
der and told him he was under arrest.
The small blond woman quickly with
drew her embrace and beckoned to
two other women who had been
watching the scene with intense inter-
est.
The Deceiver Deceived.
Come on she called triumphantly.
here he is. 1 told you he'd come.
Now we can all go to court and have
the matter settled"
80 it's a conspiracy of wives" sug-
gested the victim, as the two other
women Joined the group. "And you're
in it too, Honey" he added reproach-
fully to the youngest one, who later
turned out to be Wife No. 8. 'Well
well, never expected the three of you
to be here to me me-
And thus ,conversing pleasantly, the
detective, his prisoner and his three
wives sauntered off to court. There
Jack was asked to explain why he
had married three different women.
AS none of the women possessed
money or life insurance, the judge
could see no possible motive for such
idiocy. Neither could Jack. Finally,
he said he supposed it was just be-
ceause he wanted to be agreeable.
They were all charming girls, and he
couldn't bear to disappoint them by
telling them he was already married.
According to the psychologists, both
Jack and Florence conform to a true
bigamist type. Each represents an in
dividual who is extremely sympathetic,
sentimental and weak-willed. Flor
ence admitted that she was not in love
with either of the men she married,
but each told her a long and eloquent
history of his troubles, she felt sorry
for him, and so she allowed herself to
be persuaded into matrimony Jack
felt the same way. He couldn't say
No to a girl who wanted to marry
him. At the time he was apprehended
he was on the point of marrying a
fourth spouse, a young actress in the
same company with him.
! These are only two of long list of
bigamy cases that have harassed and
bewildered New York judges. The
season began with a large crop of in
voluntary bigamists, both men and
women, who had received forged d.
vorce DEGREES from a fake divorce law
yer. People who, believing themselves
to be respectfully divorced, had mar
ried a second time, suddenly discov-
cred that their DEGREES were worthless
bits of paper and that they were still
legally tied to their first spouses. Per-
haps the publicity given to this unfor-
tunate- circumstance. started the big
amy wave-Who knows? At any rate,
bigamy has been a spectacular feature
of our metropolitan life ever since.
There have been only a few delib-
crate bigamists to deal with, altho
criminals of this type are always at
large. The man who marries a large
number of women in order to get their
savings or life insurance is a common
| figure in the courts. To this type be-
longs the modern French Bluebeard
whose crimes crowded the war news
papers, and to this type also belongs
the young California woman who was
recently accused of having poisoned
four husbands.
But the new bigamy wave is largely
a by-product of the war. The wal
separated families and shuffled hus-
bands and wives about in a dangerous
trails. Men were thrown so violently
out of their routine that it seemed as
| if their old life had ended-but, alas
it had not.
A Happy Double Family.
Such a victim of rapid change IL
Antoine Ruyts, a Belgian, WHO wa:
recently brought into a New York
court, accused of having French as
we'll as a Belgian wife in his home
| Would Antoine kindly explain how he
came to break the law? Antoine
would:
When the Germans descended upon
Belgium in 1914. Ruyts was dwelling
peacefully in Antwerp with his wife
Charlotte, and their five children. The
Germans took Antwerp. The family
was broken up. Antoine went to q
prison camp.
Two years later, he escaped and goi
thru the lines into France. He Sc