Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-02
LIFE TERM GIVEN
/ 7-T|ME HUSBAND
George Perry Convicted in
Wisconsin of Staying
One of Wives.
by the Associated Press.

by tn6 ASSOClhtSu FESoos
EAGLE RIVER, Wis, August l.
George w. E. (Jiggs) Perry, Milwaukee's
marrying brakeman" was convicted by
O Circuit Court jury here late today Of
first degree murder in connection with
the Staying Of Cora Belle Hackett, Chi
cago, one of seven women he married
bigamously, and was Immediately sem
fenced to life Imprisonment.
Both the defendant and his legal
wife, Mary, collapsed and became hys-
terical as w. L. Covey, foreman OF the
jury read the verdict shortly before 3
O'Clock. The jury had retired at 4:03
pm. Judge G. M. Dawson heard the
motion of defense attorney, j. J. Dolan,
for a new trial, but on the attorneys
admission he had no new evidence, the
motion was overruled.
IT am not guilty of murder" Perry
replied when Judge Dawson asked him
if he had anything to say. Asked
whether he had anything further to say,
Perry answered in the negative. AS
the Judge began to pronounce sentence
he slumped into a chair and sopoeo
loudly. Spectators. meanwhile, were
caring for his legal wife, Mary, In the
rear of the court room.
Sheriff Thomas McGregor led Perry
back to his cell in the county jail after
he had flared up irritably when his
legal wife attempted to console nlm
Sheriff McGregor said Perry would be
taken to Waupun Penitentiary MONDAY
One Ballot Taken.
The jurors reported they had taken
but one ballot to reach verdict. AT
torney Dolan announced he would flle
q writ Of error in the case, charging
the Jurors were prejudiced. Through
out the trial Attorney Dolan had pro-
tested against what he termed manu-
factured circumstantial evidence"
The State had charged Perry snot
and killed Mrs. Hackett, q Chicago
widow, on July 6, 1890, in q secluded
SPOT on the Lac Du Flambeau Indian
reservation. They had left Chicago a
short time before. having been mar
ried" there June 16. Perry left Wiscon-
sin the day Mrs. Hackett disappeared
driving her automobile and the body
was found September 80.
Perry was captured in San Francisco
last May, under the name Of Frank
Moran" after nationwide search.
The trial opened Tuesday with Perry
suavely confident of producing an
"alibi' witness who would exonerate
him. But the demeanor of the mar
rying brakeman" shortly changed. His
"alibi" witness, Clarence (Curley)
Drewsen Minocqua saloon keeper, APP
peared instead as State witness and
denied having seen either Perry or Mrs.
Hackett in his place the day she dis
appeared.
One of Wives Against Him.
Then. too, Kathryn Gebhardt OF
Cleveland. whom Perry described as
zone of his favorite wives" came in
response to State summons to testify
against her erstwhile husband.
Perry himself testified he married
seven women without having obtained
a divorce. from his Milwaukee wife. In
each instance, he said, it was the
woman who insisted after brief court
ship that they should be married"
The wives" whom Perry said he
acquired in rapid succession were:
Kathryn Gebhardt, Cleveland; Cora
Belle Hackett, Chicago; Ida Downey,
Eldorado, Ill; Elizabeth Morrison, Har-
risburg, Ill: Harriet Milligan, st. Louis,
MO: Dorothy Davis, Blytheville. Ark,
and Anna Gutierrez, San Francisco.