“THE BOSS BIGAMIST."

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 5737, 4 November 1905, Page 11

“THE BOSS BIGAMIST."

(From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, September loth.

The English and Parisian police authorities as well as the American are now engaged in tho hunt for tliat most enterprising matrhuonialist, Dr Witzlioff. (He lias many aliases and many ways of spelling each of them, but Witzhoff must pass muster for tho purposes of this letter), who is said to hare married about five score ladies in the States, and has apparently quite a respectable number of "wives’ in the Old Country as well. Tho hunt promises to be a long one, for 'Witzhoff is as elusive as enterprising, and as fertile in dodges for throwing the officers of the law off his track as lie has proved in schemes for getting possession of confiding women’s money. Witzhoff has favoured London with his presence. Oi that fact we have unassailable proof. For a time ho practiced hero as a dentist, "bilked” sundry landlords and "married” at least one deluded woman. His victim was a pretty young South London lady, who fell into his clutches in a rather peculiar manner. Witzhoff, who is described as a handsome fellow, with an "irresistible”, manner, and “magnetic eyes,” introduced himself to a young lady in an aerated bread shop by the somewhat startling process of making an uncomplimentary remark about her teeth. She resented his impertinence and ho at once became “all apologies,” offering, by way of solatium for her wounded feelings, to give her the benefit of his professional services. He so mollified her anger that she finally consented to visit his dental establishment to have her teeth attended to. She went twice, but on the second occasion he started to make love to her, so when visiting him the third time she took with her a lady friend—a Miss Alice Bell—to “play goosebery.” The result was that Miss Bell fell at once in love with Witzhoff, and in spite of parental remonstrances and friendly warnings from sundry people, who thought they detected something “fishy’ about the Yankee dentist, the silly little creature went through a form of marriage with Dr Westoe (as ho preferred to be known as at this period) within a few weeks of their first meeting.

Witzhoff, it seems, opened dental establishments in several quarters of tho metropolis, but generally “shot the moon” when his landlords became pressing about the rent. His customers were invariably ladies, and he seems to have made love to every one of them who vraa likly to be of financial use to him. At one of his establishments he nearly came to grief through having so many feminine irons in the fire at the same time. Three women—Alice Bell, a red-headed hot-tempered Irish beauty, and a large-sized German lady—ail called upon him at the. same time, and each eyed the other “patients” with suspicion. "Witzhoif, with a wink to the red-headed girl, hurried her out on to tho landing, and got rid of her somehow. Then, having sent Alice into an inner room, he talked love in German to the large lady ,and managed to persuade her that both the others were patients, and having appeased her got rid of her, proceeded to remove Alice’s suspicions by telling her that the redheaded one and tho fat one were patients who had fallen in love with him and were always pestering him. According to the papers "Witzhoff is a handsome fellow, but hia published

photographs scarcely establish his claim to good looks. He seems indeed to possess very commonplace Jewish features and a labial fullness suggestive of “a touch of the tar brush” in his immediate ancestry. It is evident, hem’ever, that he has powerful attractions for a certain class of women, and the sooner his freedom is curtailed the better. The stories of his matrimonial escapades in America have no doubt been grossly exaggerated, and we can only sheet home one marriage in England to him. Doubtless, however, there are others, the victims of which prefer to keep their folly to themselves, for Witzhoff seems to have lived here for quite a long time, and some of his correspondence which has become public shows that he had many strings to his matrimonial bow during his residence in England.