The Ghost Husband of Tacoma

On February 10, 1876, George Edward and Jean Gordon were married at their home in Careston, Scotland. In 1877, the couple emigrated to America and took up residence in Marquette, Michigan. In 1881, the husband was called back to Scotland on business. He left, intending to be gone six months. He crossed the Atlantic in safety, but while traveling by railroad in Great Britain, he was in a train wreck. His name was among those reported as killed. The news was sent back to Mrs. Edward, who mourned as a widow. For several years she waited, and no further information being received, she became convinced that there could be no doubt of her husband's death. Mrs. Edward moved West with her father, James Gordon, and took up her residence in Portland. She met Charles F. Allmen, a mining man who has prospected along this coast for thirty-five years. They found each other's society congenial, and on May 15, 1894, they were married at Portland. Soon after, they moved to Tacoma. Some time after this marriage, a report reached the couple that Edward was not dead. Allmen himself wrote back to Scotland and learned that Edward was alive and employed as a guard on a railway running between Perth and Dundee. Allmen wrote to Edward and received a reply, in which the latter acknowledged that he was the missing husband, and said that no divorce had ever been granted, but failed to give any reason for his long silence. Today, Allmen brought suit in the superior court, asking that his marriage with Mrs. Edward be set aside. A decree of divorce was granted. It was proven that Mrs. Edward had no knowledge that her first husband was alive when she contracted her marriage with Allmen. Edward has maintained a strict silence since Allmen received his last letter, and has shown no disposition to again assume the position of husband to his deserted wife.