The Evening World

BIGAMY COMMON
CRIME THEY SAY

Philip Schneider Is Charged with
Having Four Wives and He-
brew Alliance Says There Are
Many Such on East Side.

CRUSADE
IS
NOW
BEGUN.

Women
Are Ignorant
of
the
Law
and
Do
Not
Know
that
They
Can
Have
Deserting
Husbands
Punished.

Philip Schneider, although only thirty-eight years old, is charged with having four wives. He was arraigned before Justice Mayer in the Court of Special Sessions this morning and held in $2,500 bail for examination on Wednesday.

The arrest was made by three men from Capt. Langan's detective staff after the officers of the Hebrew Educational Alliance had complained of the case to the District-Attorney's office. Leonard Rabbino, a lawyer for the Alliance, told the District-Attorney that he and other educational workers had found an alarming number of bigamists on the crowded East Side, and he asked that this case be taken up as the first step toward a general prosecution.

Mrs. Schneider, the first, appeared against him in court this morning and will continue to press the charge. She lives with her four children at No. 98 Willard street. Her story to the officers of the Alliance is that she was married to Schneider in Austria nineteen years ago. They lived together for six years, she says, when he came to the United States and left her behind. She followed some years later and has been making her own living, not knowing that she could prosecute her husband by law.

Wife No. 2, it is said, lives at No. 509 East Twelfth street, with two children. The detectives say she was deserted several years ago. A third wife is said to live in Madison street with her children, while the present Mrs. Schneider lives with him at No. 500 East One Hundred and Thirty-fifth street.

Schneider pleaded not guilty when arraigned. Justice Mayer heard the testimony of the detectives and placed the bond at $2,500. Schneider had no bondsmen and was remanded to the Tombs.

When the Hebrew Educational Alliance started its investigation several months ago its agents found an alarming condition. It is said by them that hundreds of women and their children have been deserted by men who take new wives and go to live in another part of the city.

In most cases the women are ignorant and do not know that their husbands are compelled by law to care for them. They often suffer great privations and the children almost starve. It is to put an end to this evil that the Hebrew Alliance has become active.