A SENSATIONAL CASE

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In the U. S. Court—A Dead (?) Husband

Testifies in His Widow’s (?) Pen-

sion Case.

A remarkable, interesting and important pension case was begun this afternoon in the U. S. Court.

John Wooten and his wife, Stacey Shafer, are on trial for making false affidavits to the pension applications of their half-sister, Mary Jacobs, of Huntington.

The history of the case reads like a story. In 1865 William Jacobs married a young woman after he got an honorable discharge from the army. They lived in this state for a few years, apparently happy, and then separated for a period. After a year or two they came together and in 1873 separated again for some reasons unknown.

A short time ago Mary Jacobs, the wife, applied for a pension, and it is alleged the affidavits she filed, claimed that she nursed Jacobs in his last illness, that she saw him die and that she buried him. Affidavits supporting this were alleged to have been made by Stacey Shafer and John Wooten.

Her plea was of such a nature that it was made a special case and a pension was granted.

It now turns out that Jacobs, the husband whom Mrs. Jacobs alleged died with the measles in her presence

IS VERY MUCH ALIVE

and is hale and hearty. He was in the court room this afternoon.

The case is full of sensational features and will be interesting as well as important.

Jacobs says he left his wife in 1873 and has not seen her since.

A Deputy Marshal said Mrs. Jacobs is feigning sick and will not come to court. She lives at Huntington. Deputy Clark was sent for her yesterday. He returned with a doctor’s certificate of her illness. Geo. W. Atkinson, Esq., is retained for the defendants.

[source: January 13, 1893, Parkersburg Daily State Journal, Parkersburg, W. Va.]

U. S. COURT DOINGS.

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The Big Pension Case Adjourned Until

Tuesday—Another Interesting Case.

The joint trial of John Wooten and his alleged wife, Stacey Shafer for swearing to false affidavits in the now famous Jacobs pension case was adjourned over until Tuesday on account of the absence of District Attorney Sturgiss, who went home Saturday. The case is about half finished. It is attracting considerable attention on account of the unusual and sensational features, which were noted in the STATE JOURNAL.

[source: January 16, 1893, Parkersburg Daily State Journal, Parkersburg, W. Va.]

THAT PENSION CASE.

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Mary Jacobs, the Alleged Widow,

Brought Face to Face

With Her Husband.

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And Denies Ever Having Seen Him—Also

Disclaims Her Father and Mother-in-

Law—Sensational Testimony in the

Wooten-Shafer Case—Her Case will be

Heard Soon.

The trial of John Wooten and his alleged wife, Stacey Shafer, for swearing to false affidavits in the Mary F. Jacobs’ pension case was concluded today in the U. S. Court.

The sensational feature of the hearing was the testimony of Mrs. Mary Jacobs, the alleged widow, who applied for the pension and swore that her husband was dead.

It will be remembered that the husband, whom she said she saw die, is now in the city and was a witness in the case.

The Jacobs woman was brought up from Huntington yesterday in spite of her alleged sickness and a Parkersburg physician examined her and said she was well enough to testify.

Her testimony in substance was as follows: I live in Huntington and am the widow of Wm. H. Jacobs. W. H. Jacobs, the supposed dead man, was brought before her then and she

DENIED KNOWING HIM

and said she never saw him. She was married Sept. 5, 1865. She acknowledged this; lived with her husband until he died in 1876, she said. “I am certain he died in Connersville, Ind., for he wrote to me to come, and I went. Saw him. His father, Henry Jacobs, and his mother, Susan Jacobs, were present when he died.

Henry and Susan Jacobs, of Connersville, Ind., father and mother of W. H. Jacobs, were then brought forward. She denied ever seeing them. Did not see my husband die, but gave him medicine. He is buried in a church yard seven miles from Connersville, but did not attend the funeral. Do not know whether I would know my mother-in-law.

Her testimony was contradicted by W. H. Jacobs, and his father and his mother. They swore that she was the wife and that she knew them all and that this W. H. Jacobs was her husband.

It was brought out by testimony from Huntington citizens that Mary Jacobs had been arrested for disorderly conduct. She is related to defendants, John Wooten and Stacey Shafer, and the affidavit they swore to was practically the same as covered by her testimony. It is the general opinion that the three are guilty of perjury.

GUILTY.

The jury in the cases returned a verdict of guilty of perjury and false swearing against Stacy Shafer and John Wooten.

It is understood the Jacobs woman will plead guilty.

A. E. Salmon, assistant clerk of Cabell county, was fined $100 and sent to jail for

one day for false swearing in this case. There were extenuating circumstances.

[source: January 17, 1893, Parkersburg Daily State Journal, Parkersburg, W. Va.]

THEY ALL GO UP.

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Mary Jacobs, John Wooten and

Stacy [sic] Shafer Get Two Years

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In the Penitentiary and Fined Each $100—

Ending of an Astounding Case Which is

Unparalelled [sic] in its Nature in the U. S.

Court.

The remarkable Jacobs pension case is now ended.

Mary Jacobs, the alleged widow, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to the Penitentiary for two years and John Wooten and Stacy [sic] Shafer, her half brother and sister, were convicted of perjury and false swearing and were each sentenced to two years and fined $100.

A. E. Salmons, assistant county clerk of Cabell county, was fined $100 and

sentenced to jail for one day, for making a false affidavit. Salmons it was shown committed his transgressions while strongly under the influence of liquor.

The case is almost romantic in its history and is most astounding in its nature.

The Jacobs woman, who has been leading a profligate life in Huntington, applied for a pension. She alleged she was a widow, and that she nursed her husband, Wm. Jacobs, in his last and fatal illness in 1876. She testified in the minutest way of his illness, death, funeral and burial, detailing how she and his father and mother nursed and took care of him in Connersville, Indiana.

Her half brother and sister, Wooten and Stacey Shafer, made affidavits alleging his death and practically the same facts. About the time Mrs. Jacobs was about to get the money due her for her dead (?) husband’s army services he turned up. He said he had not seen his wife since 1872 when he went to Connersville to live.

With the husband present, with the mother-in-law and with the father-in-law present, with proof of her marriage to him, in the face of the testimony of her husband and his parents that she was the wife, she assumed a defiant and dogged front and said she knew none of them; that she had never seen them.

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Jacobs, the parents, were brought here from Indiana to testify. They are honest, plain old people who were shocked and surprised at the woman’s story and denial. They remembered her well and thoroughly identified her. The “dead” husband, who is a hale and hearty man, was equally confident.

It is the opinion of those familiar with the case that the Jacobs woman is responsible for the crime John Wooten and Stacey Shafer were convicted of. She is a hard looking creature so sick with a loathsome disease that she had to be carried into the court room on a chair.

The brother and sister were convicted and the Jacobs woman pleaded guilty.

At five o’clock Tuesday afternoon Judge Jackson pronounced sentence. It was an impressive sight. He said that the case was unparalleled in his court. He characterized the awfulness and extent of the crime in a forcible manner and then spoke words of sympathy and advice to the convicts. The court-room [sic] was crowded with interested hearers when Judge Jackson sentenced the trio to the penitentiary. He said that in his long experience on the bench it had been his lot to sentence but two women to the penitentiary before this.

The party was taken to the penitentiary to-day [sic]. It is doubtful if the Jacobs woman survives her sentence.

[source: January 18, 1893, Parkersburg Daily State Journal, Parkersburg, W. Va.]