Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1858 — A Wholesale Polygamist. [ARTICLE]

A Wholesale Polygamist.

[From the Sau Francisco Globe.

Weekes and His Twenty-Five Wives—Literature ; Developments—A High Moral 'Lone. We have received some very curious developments in regard to George W. Weekes, the late proprietor of the Athenuem. Our I information is entirely reliable, and; wonderful as the detajls prove to be, they are sti-i, ■ y true. Weekes figured throughout the United States in the year 1855, under i the n .me of ••Wentworth,” and his brilliant career of swindling will be remembered by many of our readers. Within a space of eight months he -‘established” newspapers in almost every prominent city of the Union, and had as many wives ns he hud journals. He first commenced his cart er in the ex treme East, and thence proceeded to Philadelfihia, where he gathered together, by ' means of a prospectus, sufficient funds to take hifii West. Deserting his last wife, he proceeded to Lexington, Kentucky, and there I married a Miss Hunter. Cincinnati next became his headquarters, and he quickly created a sensation by getting up a “w ekiy,” under the name of Ella Wentworth's Journal. ' His new wife canvassed the city nd State for subscribers, like the late “Anna Corea,’’ and the success of the project was complete. To add still more to the home treasury, if number of young girls wee employed as compositors, and “an association of ladies” figured at the editors. Finding that he had pretty well gleaned the place, Weekes bid adieu for the season to Mrs. W. N>. 3, and with Mrs. W. No. 4 j- urn> yed to Philadelphia, where another Ella Wentworth's Journal was advertised, placarded and canvassed .for.

Taking a large brick house on. Third street, he furnished it handsomely and went to work on a still more expensive scale. Finding that one “Ella Wentworth” could 1 obtain fifty subscribers per day atone dollar each, he multiplied the Ellas by ten, and employed ten-more for the business rooms of the literary journal, which was to elevate ■ - the tastes and reform the morals of the city I ■or Penn. Posters and editorials announced than “an association of ladies would m.nI age the paper, and none but females would ibe employed in the printing department, counting-ioom,” &.c. The young girls were I selected with great care, a pretty face being I absolutely necessary fur the purpose of becoming a Wentworth. j We do not in the least infringe on the truth when we • state that Weekes at I this time privately married six of these young ladies, and obtained a complete asi cendancy over the others. So well was the villainy manageo, that no one then doubted ■ his truth and affection. He planned triios to 1 'all the surrounding towns, sent Elia Went-I worths in every direction to canvass and promise a 1 >cal journal,' while he als > published tor the time a neat and creditable weekly paper in Philadelphia. With No. 3, in Cincinnati, who still re-4 •posed perfect trust in Weekes, having sold out the paper made her appearance in j Philadelphia, and stopped at one of the; j leading hotels. The waiters were mystified i at. finding three “Ella Wentworths” were! already resistered—one hailing from Harris- ; ■ burg,, one York, and one Pottsville—they ! | having concluded to visit the city, and le-on what had detained their Mr. W. Exposure i couid not be avoided. .Weekes took the Cincinnati wife, late Miss Hunter,pocketed the grand cash received from tlft? other twenty, suddenly- decamped, and left a scene ■4)f heart-rending misery behind him, which I pen cannot tell. Tne Sh riff took possession of the 1 furniture; the paper, of course was "now here,” and the poor girls found themselves destitute and betrayed. The next one- itiuns of Weekes were in ■ (Jha;lest-it .S- uth Carolina. Under anoth- I er name. with another paper, and his female, < .iiiv...-sur. hd was enabled in a lew weeks to : acquire quite a large sum. With this he I abscondeu to England, Laving Miss Hunter! ‘with an infant, and completely penniless. 1 A. ter numerous escapes from olli .-.rs, arrests lor bigamy, and with a doz n warrants for swindling ready to pounce u,> > tiim/lie wisely concluded to go abromi; but in the usual provident manner, he provided himself' with Mrs. W. No. 25. What his carreer was in England up to the I end of last year, we have no means o know ing, our present information being obtained ! from a late resident of Philadelphia by the fellow, a-'d who, in legal proceedings against ‘ him, came in possession of the whole de- t tai s ot his infamy. I The arrival ol our informant in the city ■ ' is supposed to have been the cause of the sudden departure of Mrs. Anna Cora’s husband. As Anna is an Englishwoman, it is most probable that she was the lastacquain- I tance previous to the hurried departure for. I th-- United States. Nearly sou years have i elapsed since' the flight from Charleston.! Weekes, on return from England, boldly , c unmenced Ijis swindling operations in i Texas and New Orleans under his real • name. A few weeks sufficed in that region, and in Januarj’ last the pair clande.-tinely,- left the Crescent City and sailed California ward. Presuming on flush times in this latitude, Mrs Anna Cora was to raise the tariff to $5 —the sum cheerfully surrendered to the pair pirate by our gallant citizens. Another j'-h ipter of this event ul history has closed, ■and a new one will doubtless be commenced I ill Australia.