EIGHT HUSBANDS IN 24 YEARS

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 4978, 30 May 1903, Page 2 (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 who must serve 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 this woman convicted of contracting an illegal marriage, and not even a misdirected dart front Cupid’s bow could dctei 1 her. A woman’s will is tlio way, if there is a way.. l • .On eight different occasions she' bluahingly, yet firmly, said “I will,” and tho only thing sudden about each transaction was the rapidity with which she changed her name. Mrs de la Guerra was born Schult. and in 1879 acquired the name Mark, when she wedded a Lakeviow, Oregon, farmer- For six years she remained Mrs Mark, when she pined for a change in life. So in 1886. when Sheepman Reheart of Alturas came upon tho scene, her heart and hand wont to .him, .and she became Mrs Reheart. But. only’ for six mouths. Then she was 'siiiglo'-fdr five years, and in 1891 married Ben Waller, a San Francisco collector. Then she became Mrs Vvehb. but X)r G. H. Webb, her husband, lived only one year and a half. With Mr Young, a solicitor, she made a happy 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 o'. 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, Sirs Fitzgeram 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. Ho informed the police that ho had never been legally separated from the woman, ana tcercfore she was guilty of bigamy-- So the police called upon Mrs de la Guerra and placed her under arrest. ' ■ . “Why, my husband, •Fitzgerald, as dead,” she asserted; “and then reflectively, “or did he get a divorce ?” San Francisco Examiner.”