The Mesmerist’s Web: How Two Wives Defied Police to Free a Seattle Scandal
Charles Woodruff, the city's most notorious mesmerist and alleged bigamist, remains behind bars not because of lack of evidence, but because his former wives refuse to testify against him.
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.
CHARLES WAS A MESMERIST Deserted Wives Would Not Testify Against Him.
SEATTLE, Wash., March 30.—A special from Buffalo, N.Y., this morning states that Charles L. Woodruff, the most successful mesmerist ever known in Seattle and who is known to have had at least one wife here, has won two former wives, who caused his arrest, complete his release by absolutely refusing to testify against him, and as a result the police of Buffalo admit they will have to liberate Woodruff. He has been in jail giving many months.
These two were the only witnesses the police could find. The commission gave out that it was not to be found or to testify, owing to unexplained affinity that would result. An effort has been made to find some of the other score of wives that he has had in the larger cities, but the endeavor has been unavailing.
It is known that Woodruff has been living at least 11 years. He has admitted it to his wife in every large city west of Buffalo, and he confesses that he would not know them if they were lined up in front of him.
Woodruff is 40 years old and shabby in appearance, but he has a magnetism and fascination that is noticeable at first sight. For many years he made Buffalo his headquarters, but his wives became so numerous that he had to move.
The police thought that by price the two wives who had been called as witnesses that Woodruff was wooing each of them would have the effect of causing them to turn against the prosecution, but in this they were mistaken. The women stick to Woodruff, each is convinced that when the man is liberated he will take her. He has made promises to them both. The Buffalo police are very much puzzled.
This 1904 story captures a pre-modern era of 'romantic friendships' and spiritualism where charismatic figures could exploit emotional vulnerability with little legal recourse for the women involved. Today, we might view Woodruff through the lens of coercive control or cult leadership, but the core dynamic—a charismatic leader isolating followers who refuse to break ties despite abuse—remains a recognizable pattern in modern relationship psychology.
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