The Double Life of 'John West'
A Seattle man is sued by a woman claiming to be his first wife, exposing a decade of assumed identities, hidden property, and mutual accusations of abandonment.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A woman claiming to be a long-deserted wife filed a complaint in the superior court yesterday. She alleges that a man known in this town as John West has for twelve years been living under an assumed name, and that a woman known as Helena West, who has been living with him as his wife, is another man's wife. The plaintiff, Anna Friederike Wolfenstein, aged 55, says she was married to Johannes August Wolfenstein in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1880. In June 1882, her husband deserted her, leaving the state with Helena Hockmann, the wife of another man. The pair assumed the name of West upon arriving in Seattle to conceal their identities. Mrs. Wolfenstein claims that her husband invested their shared money into real estate and ventures in Seattle, accumulating $15,000 in property, but fraudulently transferred the titles to Mrs. Hockmann. She is currently destitute and in poor health, asking the court for alimony. When interviewed, the man known as John West admitted his name was Wolfenstein but claimed his life with his first wife was a 'perfect hell' and that she had been unfaithful. He argues that he changed his name at a friend's suggestion to escape her, and that he is now legally married to Helena, having wed her in Stockton after her previous husband died.
“Yes, my name is Wolfenstein, and I changed it rashly, at the suggestion of a friend of mine in San Francisco, to get rid of this woman who claims to be my wife.”
Identity-swapping and asset-hiding to evade domestic or legal obligations remains a recurring theme in Seattle’s court archives. The struggle over property titles and the legitimacy of 'common law' versus formal marriage echoes contemporary debates about the protections available to partners in long-term relationships.
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