EIGHT HUSBANDS IN 24 YEARS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1626, 29 April 1903, Page 67 (Supplement)

EIGHT HUSBANDS IN 24 YEARS

One day in San Quentin prison is the shortest sentence .on record. It has been imposed on a woman who nas had eight husbands in twenty-four years —a marrying woman, who picked her partners from all walks of life. Mrs Francisco do la Guerra is the person wno must servo this remarkable sentence, pronounced by Superior Judge Carroll Cook. A fine of 150 dollars was also exacted, the charge upon which she had been convicted requiring punishment by imprisonment and fine. Persistent in the pursuit of happiness was tins woman convicted of contracting an illegal marriage, and not even a misdirected dart from Cupid’s bow could deter her. A woman’s will is the way, if there is a way. On eight different occasions she blushingiy, yet firmly, said “I will/’ and the only tiling sudden about each transaction was the rapidity with which she changed her name. Mrs de la Gruerra was born Schult, and in 1879 acquired the name Mark, when she wedded a Lakcview, Oregon, farmer. For six years she remained Mrs Mark, when she pined for a change in life. So in ISBG, when Sheepman Rcheart of Alturas came upon the scene, her heart and hand went to lnm, and she became Mrs Relieart. Rut only for six months. Then she was single for five years, and in 1891 married Ben Waller, a San Francisco collector. Then she became Mrs Webb, but Dr C. H. Webb, her husband, lived only one year and a half. With Mr Young, a solicitor, she made a liappv home for just one month and then transferred her affections to John Roller, a dairyman of the sunny south. Two years of domestic bliss as Mrs Roller, and she was united to F. M. Fitzgerald, a real estate man of Los Angelos. Then her troubles began. They quarrelled constantly. She declared he was a mean, deceitful person. And all this before the honeymoon was scarcely spent—the seventh honeymoon of the bride, who still blushed becomingly. The husband declared his intention of procuring a divorce, and taking him at his word, Mrs Fitzgeraia came to San Francisco and remained a “grass” widow until June, 1902, when without displaying the least hesitation, she was led by Charles de la Guerra, an oil operator, to the altar. About this time Fitzgerald husband No. 7, happened to read the notice of the latest marriage. He informed the police that he had never been legally separated from the woman, aim tnereforo she was guilty of bigamy. So the police called upon Mrs de la Guerra and placed her under arrest. “Why, my husband, Fitzgerald, is dead,” she assorted ; “and then, reflectively, “or did he get a divorce?” —San Francisco Examiner.”