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Show B MAXINE ELLIOTT'S PICTURE. B A Little Michigan Widow With a Little Michigan B Nerve. Used it to Win a Husband. B Allegan, Mich. Tlirough the elopement of Mrs B Lizzie Coffey of Burnips Corners with a young man B Bhe met at a revival meeting has come to light the B fact that thousands of men answered the woman's B matrimonial advertisement. B She represented herself as a young widow with from $30,000 to $00,000 in her own right, and as be- ing heiress to nearly a million. She gave glowing B descriptions of her personal charms, using portraits ol Maxine Elliott in substantiation, and said she B wanted a congenial, good, honest husband who would B care for her and use her property to good advan-B advan-B tage. She describeu her home as a "$30,000 man- sion." It is a tiny log cabin. B Letters came frcm every state in the Union and B from all parts of the world. There were letters B from the Philippine islands, Europe, South America B and even from Alaska, where the gold hunters, hear- B ing of the rich widow, thought the prospects better B than those of the mining region. B The little fourth-class office at Burnips. Corners B became crowded with mail for Mrs. Coffey. The B postmaster was unable to scan the post marks to B sec where the letters came from. B He lost trade in his little barber shop upstairs be- B cause he had to spend so much time sorting this B mail. He finally impressed several of his children B into the service and the stuff was Handled. H B William W. Coffey, the husband of the "widow", B went to the little office three miles from his home B and in a big basket gathered the letters, papers and B photographs and took them home, where their con- B tents were examined. B Nearly every letter contained at least one 2-cent B stamp, and some contained more. The letters in B most instances were either thrown into the little B cook stove or dumped into an old cupboard. Some B of the more promising ones were answered, especi- B ally if the applicant for the hand of the woman B mentioned that he had money in his own right. B The great bulk of mail consisted of matrimonial B papers from all parts of the country. These con- B tained innumerable advertisements of men and B women looking for partners to share the joys and B sorrows of life. Many of the papers contained pic- B tures of good-looking women and handsome men, B all with fortunes waiting for some one to share B them. B Mrs. Coffey did not trust her features to any of B these papers, for she had noticed in the little inir- B ror at home that her face was not her fortune, so B she contented herself with sending half-tone pictures B cut from papers or the photographs of actresses she B could obtain. One of her favorite pictures wan that B or Maxine Elliott. B Lizzie Coffey, formerly Lizzie Walker, says she B is 31 years old. She looks older, she is thin, listless B and cunning. B The house that sheltered this "heiress, to a mil- B hon" is built of logs. The roof is leaky and un- B safe. The walls are lean, and the only living things B about the" place are a dog and a lilac bush that B huddles close tP the old house. B After reading these loving epistles for months, B and living in an asmosphere of romance, Mrs. Coffey B longed to find some one who could appreciate her B love Se became tired of her husband. She fought H against her fate and her surroundings. Her envir- B onments bore down upon her with terrible weight. iB Just at this time revival meetings wore begun in B tIle little log church a half mile east. B ore was a chance to at least escape the fright- B ful monotony. She determined to go and she told B her husband to remain behind with little Nero, B e shaggy sky terrier, the pet of the household. B The meetings were no lukewarm atiairs, icily, reg- B wlar and prim, but just such meetings as one would expect in the backwoods district of a barren country. It was there Mrs. Coffey met Frank Kipen, a young man who lives in the grub district also. He is tall, rather good looking and young. The husband, at home with little Nero, did not suspect anything wrong until one nighu his wife did not return. He peered out into the night, thinking think-ing every stump he saw was his wife returning, but she did not arrive. He sat up all night waiting. In the morning he went to the home of Mrs. Cart-right, Cart-right, a mile away, and there he found Mrs. Coffey and Frank Kipen. After he discovered them they fled. Kipen told Mrs. Coffey that they would go far away out west and get away from the grub district, the pines, and the sand. They would flee from Coffey and leave all the disagreeable neighbors who had been talking about them behind. They would take another name and Coffey would never find tnem. Here was the chance Mrs. Coffey had been looking for. Here was a real romance at last, in her life. She saw herself eloping just like they did in novels.- Thcy drove over to Dorr Centre, six miles from Burnips Corners, on the Lake Shore railway. But the wronged husband was not to be eluded. He followed soon after. When the coupie got into the train he followed. Mrs. Coffey wont to him and told him he must leave the train at the next stop, about two miles up the road. She succeeded in getting get-ting him from the train. As he stepped off 'she said: "We are only going up to Allegan. We'll be back-again back-again all right." Although put off the train by his wife, he was not baffled. Coffey footed it into town that day, a distance of twelve miles. But he was too late. He found that his wife and Kipen had gone to Grand Rapids. He got some money and followed to that city. Again he was too jate. They had flown. He told his story to the sheriff there, but he said it did not concern him. "That is a matter for Allegan county to take up," said the official. Coffey went to Allegan and then on to his lonely home. When he got back out there and found his home more desolate than ever, he began to resent his wife's actions. He decided to bring her back at all costs. He went to town and told Sheriff Bensley his story. He was advised to make a complaint against 'his fleeing wife and her paramour. That seemed to be the only way he could get her back, so he agreed. Armed with the papers, Sheriff Bensley went to Grand Rapids, Minn. He found the woman and confronted her. She was indignant. She said her name was Ward and that she and her husband decent, respectable people were from Iowa. She raved and stormed and tore her hair. She wept and took on at such a terrible rate that the sheriff, who did not know for sure she was the right woman, decided she must be. tone had stormed too much. They were brought back and lodged in the Allegan Al-legan county jail. They were taken before Judge JII. II. Cook for hearing, but when the time came for trial Coffey had weakened. He could not bear to see his wife in jail. He asked that the charge be withdrawn. He was ready to forgive and forget all. Meantime, however, considerable ovidence had been accumulating and it was damaging. Judge Cook decided to overrule the motion for dismissal. "I'll bind you over to the circuit court in the sum of $50 each , he said, and the runaways were sent to jail, where they remained for several weeks. Mrs. Coffey and Kipen have since been discharged, but no sooner had the woman left lae custody of the sheriff than she was arrested by government officials of-ficials and is being held pending an investigation on the charge of using the mails to obtain money by fraudulent means. Mr. Coffey Avas also arrested and is being held on the same charge. The postoffice inspectors have been working on the case for some time, with the aid of the sheriff, and a thorough investigation will be made of the whole affair. New York Herald. |