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Show sirs HUH DffllEDII BECK Sister of Plaintiff Testifies in Dower Action Against Sugar Company. Declares Deceased Financier Finan-cier Before Death Controverted Con-troverted Union. Spoi-iul to The Tribune. IMK V Aug. I'll. The most nensa-tional nensa-tional testimony given in the dowry suit of Hcrlha Guss Heck against the. L'tan-Idaho L'tan-Idaho Sugar company and others today was t hat of M i s. Matilda Goss Beck, sister of the plaintiff and plural wife of tho late John Beck. Mrs. FU-ck testified that John Beck told her a few days preceding his death that bo had not made Bertha Goss Beck hi3 legal wife and would not do so. Other testimony was adduced to show that. Mtm. Bertha (Joss Becic was generally gener-ally known :is the wife of John Beck for a considerable period preceding his death. mii thin point Mr. Charles G. Plummer, Kent Cobb Mud Mrs. Sophie Van Dyke, all of Salt Lake, were called to the witness wit-ness stand in behalf of Mrs. Beck. Dr. I'lummer testified that Mrs. Bertha P.ec-k was introduced to him in the De i Golvor mansion by Mr. Beck as "my wife." Tim physician also said he had frequently seen Mr. and Mrs. Beck out ruling together. During the last five or six ve.us of Mr. Berks life, Dr. Plummer Plum-mer testified. Mr. Beck had spoken to Mm ;tl".ut other wives plural wives, as tho doctor understood it. In conclusion, I jr. I'lummer testified that John Beck and Bertha Goss Beck had the reputation of being married while residing in the De Cnlv.-r mansion. I Kent" Cobb, an old friend of the Beck ! familv. testified to having frequently : seen Air. and Mrs. Beck out riding to- i pother, and had been with them on, such occasions. He said he had lived ; with them for weeks at a time and had j the understanding that they were legally man and wife. j Heck's Daughter Testifies. j Mrs. Sophie Van Dyke, who is a daugh- 1er of John Bock by a wife now dead, ; hut not of Sarah Beck, the first wife, testified that her father had told her he wanted to go to California, in order to j he legally married to Mrs. Bertha Beck. 1 She had never seen her father at a public reception, nor on the streets driving with , TUlie or Louisa floss, but had frequently I seen him out with Mrs. Bertha Beck, she I said. Mrs. Van Dyke testified that she v.-as married in the De Golyer mansion Mild that the invitations to the reception had been issued by Mr. and Mrs. John j Beck. She said further that she had , been ren red by Mrs. Bertha Beck, her i i mother having died during her in- fancv. roys-exnmi nation, Mrs. Van Dyke id .he believed her fnther had been robbed and she wanted Mrs. Beck to win lln'' suit. Frank B. Stephens, Salt Lake attorney, t estifled that he knew John Beck for nbout thirty years, and that he first met Bertha Goss Beck in 1S!17, and afterward after-ward met her in 1898 and 1S99. "Mrs. Beck, he stated, consulted him at one time relative either to a divorce or separate maintenance, and he had Mr. Beck come to his office. Mr. Beck, according ac-cording to tho witness, premised Mr. Stephens that he would see that Mrs. Beck was cared for, as well as his finances would permit. Defense Opens Case. The plaintiff rested at this time, and the first witness cnlled for the defense was Mrs. Matilda Goss Beck. She testified that she was born at Salt Lake, the daughter of Peter D. Goss. She was married to John Beck as a plural wife, she said, in January, 1SS5, in the endowment endow-ment house, with Albert Carrington officiating. offi-ciating. She further testified that she had had a conversation with Mrs. Bertha Beck yesterday, in which Mrs. Beck had jn f erred that the community owed the Beck family a great deal. She then testified tes-tified to having gone to Europe about a yenr after she was married with her father, a nd enumerated the members of The party as her father and his wife, her husband, John Beck. Bertha Beck, Louisa Beck and the two children of Mrs. Bertha Beck. She testified further that she and her cousin, Louisa, traveled under the name of Louisa Goss and Matilda Goss. She told of the trip to Germany and the life of the family there for about a year. Mrs. Bertha Beck had previously testified tes-tified that she did not recall that Mrs. Matilda Beck was on the trip. Says She Was Warned. After the noon recess Mrs. Matilda Beck was recalled and testified that Mrs. Sophie Van Dyke had asked her what she was doing here, and that she had been warned by Mrs. Van Dyke to be cautious as to what she testified, as people peo-ple would think it was spitework if she testified against Mrs. Bertha Beck. Mrs. Van Dyke had told her, Mrs. Matilda Ma-tilda Beck said, that the community owed Mr. Beck a great deal and ought to pay it. She then testified that she had gone to California and occupied the Fame house "with Mrs. Bertha Beck and Louisa Beck, and that she had resided at different houses in San Francisco before be-fore Mrs. Sar;h Book's death. Mr. Beck, she said, came to houses occupied oc-cupied by these women whenever he was in San 'Francisco, which was every month or two when his business called him there. Mrs. Beck testified further that before tho death of Mrs. Sarah Beck she, the witness, had lived in Salt Iake. Bertha Beck lived in the De Golyer mansion, she added, and she resided in the Beehive house after the death of Mrs. S;trah Beck. Mr. Beck, according to the witness, had purchased a number of pictures from home art ists and brought the artists to lier home, where she. was introduced to them by Mr. Beck and Mrs. Beck. Mrs. Louisa Beck at this time, the witness wit-ness said, was living hi her own home on First avenue, formerly known as the Row home. The witness described jewelry jew-elry that Mr. Beck had bought for her and 1 ,ouisa Beck. She had later lived at Lehi. she testified, and Mr. Beck had visited her there. "Gives Beck Advice. When Mr. Beck bought the De Goyler house. Mrs. Matilda Beck said, he showed her the house and asked her if she would like it. She testified that she had told him that he would better see that 1 is ot her wives were provided for and that he had done so. She moved from the Beehive house, she added, because Mr. Beck could not, or did not, keep up his payments on the place. She moved from the Beehive house, she said, to the Beek family residence, where Mrs. Sarah Leek had lived. Mr. Beck had told her, she testified, that he had plenty of horses and car-riage.s car-riage.s at tiie De Goyler home which she could us'-. She had used them orca-pionallv, orca-pionallv, but not often, she said, because Mrs. Bertha Beck had objected. Mrs. Buck th"n described a trip taken to Chicago in the late 'IHis. She stopped at the Pal mr-r home, she said. Mr. Beck had registered them there, but she did not know how. Shortly after she moved into the house at ;".5 North State street, flie testified, there yc began to keep boarders being compelled to do so because be-cause the cheeks to her from tho office bad reaped. When Mr. peek bad been compelled to (e) tii r- j t- Goyl.-r mansion Mrs. Ib rtha Beck had Jived with her in the North State street house, she added. Later, she said, -she went to the Fourth ward to live. Mrs. Beck then testified that, previous to this trial, she had never heard from Mrs. Bertha Beck or from any other source that Mrs. Bertha Beck had become the lawful wife of John Beck. John Beck made his home with her, she testified, : after she moved to the Fourth ward, and was residing with her during his last illness. Beck's Dennial. j After Mr. Beck's death, Mrs. Beck said, i she had paid each month what s.he could on the funeral expenses. Mr. Beck, according ac-cording to the testimony of the witness, had voted in the precinct in which she lived. Mr. Beck, she said, told her after the death of Sarah Beck, the first wife, and the return of Mr. Beck from California, that they had tried to put up a scheme on him in California, but that he had got away from them. In conclusion, Mrs. Beck testified that a few days before his death Mr. Beck told her that he had not made Bertha his legal wife and would not do so. He added, according to the witness, that Bertha was too avaricious and would push the other wives out If she had a chance. On cross-examination, Mrs. Beck said she had not visited Mrs. Bertha Beck for some time, because she had not been Invited. In-vited. At the conclusion of Mrs. Beck's testimony testi-mony the further hearing of the case was continued to September 24. |