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IMMORALITY DENIEDIN HOUSE OF DAYIDBut Bole of Virginity, P»rt of the Cult, Admitted to Have Been Violated—Sudden Marriage* Perplexing.frilifcalwaiTliav.VutioaVltV1ItST. JOSEPH, Mich., April 24.—(By the Associated Press. —Further evidence of irregularity in the group marriage last week or fourteen couples at Uie House of David was uncov-jered today in the grand Jury investigation of charges of immorality in King Benjamin Purnell's Israelite colony, according to reports from the grand Jury room.Three sisters, Vertry Drake Tucker, Tiflts Drake Walstrom and Countess Drake Woodruff, of whom at least one's age was said to have been misrepresented in order to obtain the marriage licenses, repoited that their mother, Mrs. Louise Drake, could neither read nor write, altho what purports to be her written signature ap- j pears on the parent’s atfidavit of con- * sent attached to the license applica- f tion. 1Another discover}- by Judge Harry j Dingman of Detroit, the one man f grand Jury, w-as that several cf the ( license applications bou* the name of « the bridegroom written on a typewrit- \ er. and the typewritten word “Miss” | followed by a blank, in which the pros- j pectlve bride's name was filled in with a pen.As former girl members of the cult have frequently charged in court actions that it was customary at the group marriages which have preceded other state and federal investigations to draw lota for husbands, the grand Jury inquiry will delve into the possibility that some similar system may have been followed this time.The three systers and Rosie Tucker iare said to have told Judge Dingeman that they know nothing of immorality at the colony, that they never had improper relations with King Benjamin Purnell, nor knew of any one else having such relations; that they had never lived with the virgins of Shiloh at the home of Purnell and “Queen Mary; and that they had only been there on holiday occasions, when I evpfy one in the colony was invited, j Every one of the four girls and four boys who have testified declared. It | was learned tonight, that since their marriages they have violated the virginal rule of the cult which seeks to banish lust by forbidding marital rw lations between husband and wife.The witnesses are reported to have told Judge Dingeman that while the virgin law was one of the rules of the i colony, no force vas ever exerci^d In •enforcing ihose rules and the individual was free to abide by ’hem or not, j a.-, he chose.
Newspaper Details
Nebraska State Journal
Lincoln, Nebraska, US
Wed, Apr 25, 1923
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
IL, USA 02 Jun 2019
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