THE " BOSS BIGAMIST."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue 9295, 18 February 1907, Page 6

THE " BOSS BIGAMIST."

One of the best pieces of news the i Christmas cables from America have given • as (writes our London correspondent) is the report of the arrest of that blackguardly bigamist Dr Witzhoff at Buffalo. Witz. ■hofi's victims are numbered by the scone; indeed, it is said that at the very least he has led a hundred women to the altax and the registry office in various parts of the world. Whatever the real number of | this arch bigamist's "wives," it is toler- ' ably certain that every one of them has had. cause to bitterly regret her brief association -with him. Witzhoff ~was always "out ''for money," and anything feminine with money, little or much 5 cam© as fisli to his net. Only one woman seems to have really touched the heart of this 1 creature, and that wias an English girl, Alice Bell, whom he appears to have marTied for love. Maybe, however, he took ncr to wife simply because the marriage habit had mastered him, or because he felt he must keep up hie wedding average somehow. Of course, he deserted her in the end, but only after .he had lived with >her for quite a long itime, and when our police commenced to make matters warm for him. ' Witzhoff is a native of Switzerland, and is now about 45 yars old. He is described as a presentable, plausible man wath "strange hypnotic eyes." He went ibo America about 20 years ago. He was a .skilled dentist, and learned a good: salary as the employee of various dental firms. It was while working in this capacity 'that Witzhoff met the majority of the women whom he afterwards married and deserted. Many of them were widows or divorced women who possessed some property.

One of Witzhoff's first known viotams ■was Miss Pairkbill, "wiho married him in 1903. Immediately after the wedding Witzhoff borrowed £600 from the bride's fataeir amd disappeared, and soon aftgrwaTds married Etta Randall at Boston. Miss Randall gave him £400, and before the honeymoon was over Witzhoff lelt her in search of a wealthier bride. Thereafter marriage became a habit. He ■wooed and' won brides' in nearly every State. A Mies Chapman, .of Chicago, netted him £iOOO. Miss Marie ObermeyeT, of Minnesota, gave bi-m £1000, with which be disappeared an* hour after the- wedding oeremony; and Miss Mary Thorpe, oi Brooklyn, hadi a dowxy of £2000, which Witzhoff secured. Them the arch-bigamist turned his attention to widows. Mdme. Maihiowitz, a Polish. ~obibed> of £60. Mrs Dorff

wiaow, was roDaoeai 01 s , Mrs Kezinsky, Mrs Rosenfeld, 'and 1 Mrs Freedman were a few of tihe Wiaailfchy widows living in the Jewish, quarter ia the East side of New York who were married and deserted quickly. Miss Jennie Thurston, a member of a prominent Indiana family, was the next victim. A week after thieir marriage she gave Witzhoff £400 with which to perfect an alleged motor car patent. He went to New York for that p-uirpose, but he married a Miss Goldba/um instead. In the majority of cases quoted Wdtzhoff gave his name as either MulLer, Schotze, Rieder, or Steinitz. After his marriage with Miss Goldbatim, however, he married' half a dozen Brooklyn widows in the names of Wagner, Horowitz, Glucker, Schwartz, Cohen, and Stein respectively. The sis: netted Witzhoff sums TangiSg from £500 to £3000 each.

In England Witzhoff, posing as "Dx Wasteo," only seems to have niaTried. Alice Bell, with, whom he gob lifrifle or nothing. He, however, remained here well over thie year s running dtental businesses in London and Manchester, and possibly there were other victims, who, finding how they had been duped, preferred to bear their shame in silence. Witzhoff cleaned out of England, leaving Alice Bell and her baby penmile&s and a heap of creditors lamentdug. In the anxtumn of 1905 Witzhoff was again contracting bigamous marriages in New York and Boston, and 1 aifc last the police organised a general seaich for him, which forced Witzhoff to abandon his lovemaking and go into hiding. Mrs Wagaar, the "wife" who is repoited to have caused his arrest, declared last year that she would spend every penny 6he posae&ed sto bening Witzhoff to justice, and several other victims, who still possessed a little money, joined together and employed pmvate detectives> to "run him to earth.