MASQUERADE DISCLOSED BY "WIFE"

Evening Star, Issue 15537, 6 July 1914, Page 2

MASQUERADE DISCLOSED BY "WIFE"

Through the jealousy of one of her own sex, an aliasing masquerade on,the part of a girl at Milwaukee, U.S.A., has been disclosed For 10 years the girl, Cora Kerwineio, who is of Spanish descent, has posed as a man, and has lived with another girl as he:- husband. Recently "he" deserted his " wife," and by some strange means so deceived a doctor'that the latter granted him a eugenic marriage certificate. This enabled " him'' to marry, and the wedding resulted in revelations being made by Miss Mamie White, as whose husband '"Ralph Kerwineio," the "dashing Spaniard," has posed since 1904. The latter, who was taken to police headquarters pending investigations, resolutely refused to make any statement, but Miss White furnished the authorities with a full explanation. "It came about," she said, " because we were discouraged over our inability to eain more than girls' wages. Cora liked to masquerade in men's clothing, and she. made a remarkably handsome boy. One day, when we were discussing our dark future, Cora declared her intention of becoming a man. The more we joked about it the more serious the project became. ' I can act like a man and look like a man,' C'ora said, 'and I can earn a man's wages. We can remain chums as we are now. and my larger wages will help out your woman's wages.' So one night after our work had ended we took men's clothing to a room iu another part of Cleveland, where we were then living, and I helped Cora to cut her hair short. We then moved to Milwaukee, where ("era found mo difficulty in getting a position. She worked as a man in several different- business houses. As we wanted to be together, we rented a, room, and the people with whom we lived never d<ubted that we were man and wife." At the time of her arrest Cora was employed" as stock clerk in a well-known mercantile establishment, and Mamie was an usher at a theatre. Both are welleducated girls, ana they lived comfortably together on their" double wages. Amongst Cora's friends, who regarded her as a- man. she numbered Dorothy Klenow6ki, and recently the two agreed to be married. "Ralph" deserted "his" first love for Dorothy, but in order to become the later's "husband" had to obtain a certificate of good health, under a new eugenic marriage law of the State of Wisconsin. Armed with this document, "Ralph" contracted a legal "marriage" on March 24 with Dorothy Klenoweki. A letter written by Mamie White, found m the possession of the absconding "husband," entreated her to return, and described her as " the first arid only friend I have known." The "marriage" has shed a comical light on the eugenic marriage law. Dr W. J. Scoflard, who s ; gned the eugenic certificate for "Ralph" Kerwineio, states that the man-woman had been a patient of his for years. "I never suspected for a moment," says Dr Scollard. "that 'Ralph' was a woman. 'Ho' came to me for a certificate. I took a specimen of blood from 'his' arm, and found it free from disease, and signed the certificate. •Ralph'*' wife was also a patient of mine." Dr Scollard is declared blameless, as he complied with every particular of the conditions of the eugenic law ae interpreted by the Attorney-General.