1925-07-11-sc-p6-archie-ditmar-wife-convicted-bigamy

July 11, 1925 Spokane Daily Chronicle Page 6:

WOMAN BIGAMIST GETS PRISON TERM

Says She Married Ditmar Because She Was Afraid She Would Lose Him.

“I married the man, even when I knew I had no right to, because I was afraid I would lose him.”

This was the explanation given today by Eva I. Thompson, alias Eva Ielean Koch, alias Eva E. Ditmar when Superior Judge Lindsley asked her why she had committed bigamy in marrying Archie Ditmar, farmer near Mondovi.

“Guilty,” was the plea of the woman when she was arraigned. A sentence of from one to five years in the state penitentiary was given.

Judge Lindsley passed sentence after he was advised the woman had lied in court two weeks ago when she secured an interlocutory divorce decree from Ernest Thompson. At that time she told the court she had not been married before she married Thompson, though a later investigation showed a former husband named Koch had died.

She had married Thompson before obtaining the decree, according to Deputy Prosecutor Greenough. This divorcee was granted on the grounds of cruelty.

Ditmar is the son of the former “wheat queen,” recently pardoned by Governor Hartiey when she was sentenced to serve a Sentence for violation of the prohibition act. The woman is said to have once owned more wheat land than any woman in the world.