The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-03-15
DESIRE FOR PETTINC
CAUSED WEDDINGS,
BIGAMIST DECLARES

INDIANAPOLIS. Ind, March 10
Isaiah Moore, 80 years old, who is be-
ing held at the Indianapolis city prison.
charged with bigamy. embezzlemens
and grand larceny, and who admitted
having 10 wives, declares his repeated
matrimonial ventures were caused by
desire to be "petted and babied.
Il have always been subject to &c
we're nervous disorders" he said.
''Petting and affection eased my ner-.
vousness. ! would get. tired of one
woman. however, and desert her. Then
! would feel the need of affection aud
get married again"
Moore, who Monday admitted hav-.
ing been married II times, yesterday
gave police the records of two other.
marriages. In neither case was he
able to give the police the name of
the woman he married, nor the date
of the marriage He declared certain
ly that he had married no other wo-
men, and that he had been married
only Is times.
Only Thirteen Wives.
II have kept pretty good record of
them" he said. There are only Is"
In signed statement made yester-
day to Detective Houlihan and Engle-
bright, Moore said he was married to
a woman in Denver, Colo, under the
name of James Vaughn. Using the.
name of Henry Forbes, he said. he
married another woman in RidgeWay,
Md.
Women whom he had previously
confessed marrying were Miss Harriet
Evans, high school teacher at Mex.
leo. Ind Laura HertZberg, Peoria, Ill;
Irene Hale Chicago; Helen Hardgrass.
Augusta, Kas.; Florence Johnson, Da-
yid City, Neb.; Laura Shields, Spo-
kane, Wash; Gertrude 49,, F1ndlay,
Ohio; Bessie Whitson, Wilson, n. G.;
Sue Harris, Houma, La, and Amelia
Werner, Detroit, Mich.
All these, Moore said, he had mar
ried in the last 10 years, after desert
ing his first wife, who was Miss Flora
Dolf, Wyoming. Pa, which Was
Moore's home. His first wife has a
daughter about IL years old.
Embe9zled, Charges.
Operatives of the National detoc.
tive bureau were put on Moore's trail
after he had deserted Miss Evans, bis
last wife, in an Indianapolis hotel, TAX
ing with him a check for S512 belong
. ing to her. Moore also took Sl,beo
from Miss Hale, and is said TO nave
embezzled 800 from Miss Johnson
When arrested in Minneapolis,
Moore, who was going under the name
of Howard tombstone, had engaged
himself to Miss Alma kofahl, OF Beck
re. Mimi. and was to have married her
today. :,
Most of his wives, Moore said, nc
met while singing with them in cnurch
choirs.
Believed Condition Is Feigned.
Detectives. while admitting Mool Q
has been through enough to be ner
vous. believe his continual twitchlng
and Jerking, is somewhat feigned.
Moore also admitted in his signed
statement, made after he had waived
hearing in city court and been bound
to the grand jury under bond set st
$4,000, that he had spent two years
in the house of refuge near Philadei-
phia, when he was 10 years old. He
was unable to remember why he was
sent to the correctional institution.
Miss Evans. who was in lndianaL-
oils Yesterday morning, appeared be-
fore the grand jury and is said to have
Moore. which lasted less than week
She refused to comment on the case
other than to admit that Moore, whom
she had married as Melrose, had not
been nervous as long as she knew him.
Before leaving Indianapolis, she
signed affidavits against him, charging
bigamy. She also filed suit asking
an annulment of her marriage and a
decree of absolute divorce. The plain
tiff says she lives in Vincennes. and
was married to Moore Nov. 30, 1921,
and was unaware at that time he was
married to Flora Dale, of Wyoming,
Pa.
Photographs and Bertillon measure.
ments of Moore will be sent to police
departments in all the cities he is said
to have been married, in an effort
to obtain evidence against him.