The Cairo Bulletin

RUNS FOUR FAMILIES
THREE SISTERS IN SEPARATE HOMES AND A REAL WIFE.

Man Has 21 Offspring by Four Women, and Seems Proud of It--Affair Goes 18 Years Without Discovery.

Meridian, Miss.--How a man maintained four households for 18 years, three in addition to that of his legal wife, was revealed when F. L. Deason, who lives near Collinsville, was tried in the circuit court before Judge Buckley.

Three of the women in the case were sisters--Cricket, Dorsh and Ellen Cochran--and they were shown to be the mothers of 16 of his children. Deason also has five children by his wife.

How Deason was able to maintain these four families during the period of 18 years without action having been taken against him does not appear from the record, but his neighbors profess they knew nothing about the conditions existing.

When the three women and Deason faced Judge Buckley they were accompanied by their children, and admitted their guilt. The women were sentenced to one day each on the provision that they leave the county in 60 days. Deason was given 60 days in jail in one case and three sentences of $500 fines and 60 days were suspended.

The trial of the case brought into the courtroom an unusually large crowd. Deason appeared calm and unmoved. An effort was made to show he was a Mormon, but this failed. Asked if he believed in polygamy, he replied he did not.

The three sisters reside close together, and at one time, at least, during their relations with Deason, two of them were under the same roof. Deason is a farmer, apparently modest and retiring.

The section around Collinsville is sparsely settled with whites, and to this fact is ascribed the ignorance professed by his neighbors as to his relations with his wife and the three other women. Deason appears to be about fifty years old; his wife seems close to the same age, and all three of the sisters might pass for forty.