Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1921-12-09
1T PAYS TO MARRY OFTEN
IF you DON'T GET CAUGHT

: Chicago.-Secret Service operatives
men who have followed their work
to the ends of the earth and have seen
all the joys and pathos connected with
the occupation, willingly admitted to-,
day that the story told by Mrs. Helen
Ferguson Drexler, the pretty 22-year-
old girl who has confessed to having
been married to sixteen men during
the last three years, was by far the
most peculiar to which they have yet
listened.
The young woman, who was arrest
ed IN loop hotel yesterday by gov
eminent agents, told her tale to Capt.
Thomas /. Porter of the service today.
She admitted the charge m which she
was arrested, Of having married the
men, all Of whom were either soldiers
or sailors, for the sole reason of Sc
curing the allotment issued by the
War Department Risk Bureau to the
wife of a man in the service.
"You men try to make me admit to
the marriage of ten men,. she said.
"Why that is just more than half. l
had sixteen of them during my career
and was going to marry another In q
few days If l had not been arrested"
First Man Killed
"Why didn't you settle down with
the first man you married?" asked
Capt. Porter.
well, that is the whole thing" she
replied.
:. Iwanted to, but it was not the
wish of my husband.
@The first man to whom i was mar
ried was an auto salesman in Boston
in 1913. had just gone there from
Brooklyn. whore i was brought up.
NY mother had died and my father
disappeared q short time after her
death. My only brother had been
killed in France. A short time after
l landed in Boston, got position IN
dry goods store. Then l met Wli-
fred Taylor, just over 20 years old.
We decided to get married. After the
wedding we lived together until he
was called to war and went off to
France. Shortly afterward / got
word of his death. / tried to forget,
| but being by myself, was soon fore
ed to seek company, and finally mar
ried a man from New York. was
getting the allotment from the gov
ernment due me from my first hus-
band at that time. / lived with my
second husband contentedlv for sever
al months. He joined the navy. l got
an allotment from him. One day ]
met a woman who heard of the two
allotments l was getting from the
government, amounting to sou q
month. She suggested that in as
much as the money was easy, should
keep It up and marry again. l could
make hundreds of dollars month by
this scheme if it worked.
Made $500 a Month
aI consented and married again
this time a soldier at Brooklyn Navy
Yards named John Kelly. He signed
his allotment to me. left him and
went in search of another husband.
aFrom then on, life was just one
husband after another. The income
amounted to $500 a month. After two
years / had married ten men. l cant
recall all the names. ! went to Nor
folk. Va, and married again. Each
| time l only stayed with my husband
until / got the allotment signed to me
and then left.
aFinally l came to Chicago. went
| to live in Waukegan, near the Great
Lakes Training station. Then in rap
id succession / was wed to Thomas Jo-
seph Means, Patrick Foeller and Paul
Greyson, sailors assigned there. They
did not know the difference.
"On August II, married Albert
Drexler. who was soldier at Camp
Grant. That was the last. He was
the sixteenth. But young sailor az
Great Lakes was to have been the
next if | had not been caught /,
Mrs. Drexler was held under bonds
of $4,000.