Randal Sell: Hawken Research
Last edit September 5, 2020, 3:19 PM EST See also: Earl Lind: The Cercle Hermaphroditos, c. 1895
Evidence Suggesting That William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken was Earl Lind/Jennie June/Ralph Werther
Also see Hawken
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1865, April, May, or June: Birth:
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915, for William Ralph Hawken
Indicates that Hawken was born in April, May, or June of 1865. The original volumes cites will list the date of birth.
Name: HAWKEN, William Ralph. Sup-Registrars District: St. Columb. Vol.: 5C Page: 126
https://www.ancestry.ca/interactive/8912/ONS_B18652AZ-0619?pid=9692346&backurl=https://search.ancestry.ca/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D8912%26h%3D9692346%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DKcm914%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Kcm914&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true
A different Ancestry search also suggests:
William Ralph Hawken born about 1865.
Name:William Ralph Hawken
Age:6
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1865
Relation: Son
Father's name: Samuel Hawken
Mother's name: Sarah Hawken
Gender: Male
Where born: St Columb Major, Cornwall, England
Civil Parish: St Columb
Major County/Island: Cornwall Country: England
Registration district: St Columb
Sub-registration district: St Columb
ED, institution, or vessel: 4c
Household schedule number: 7
Piece: 2255
Folio: 66
Page Number: 2
Household Members:
| Name | Age |
|---|---|
| Samuel Hawken | 53 |
| Sarah Hawken | 50 |
| Sam Hawken | 17 |
| William Ralph Hawken | 6 |
| Mary Jane Pinch | 24 |
| John Cole | 21 |
Source Citation: Class: RG10; Piece: 2255; Folio: 66; Page: 2; GSU roll: 834880. Source Information.
Ancestry.com. 1871 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
Original data: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1871.
Data imaged from the National Archives, London, England.
Accessed from Ancestry.com on September 11, 2018
1867: Birth
1867, March 11: Christening
Using FamilySearch Clair Kronk was able to get a birthdate of 1867 and a christening date of 11 March 1867 for William Hawken. Kronk points out that and 1867 birthdate fits with the February 1892 arrest of Hawken notes that he was 24, which means he was born in either 1868 or 1867.
1887, December 13
William Ralph Hawken present at a meeting of The Royal Colonial Society in London.
If this is the same person as William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken he could not have been in the U.S. at the same time.
https://books.google.com/books?id=sHs0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA48&dq=%22ralph+hawken%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYrKTT9MrLAhXFbz4KHVp1BEYQ6AEIKDAC#v=onepage&q=%22ralph%20hawken%22&f=false Randall Sell: This document refers to a "William Ralph Hawken." If you flip to the front it, the bookplate indicates that it’s from the library of Leland Stanford. Leland Stanford founded Stanford University but he studied to be a lawyer at Cazenovia Seminary in upstate New York. That was a seminary where Methodist ministers were being trained and it’s the tiny town a William Hawken was assigned by the Methodist Episcopal church in 1889. Sell contacted Cazenovia to see if they had records of Hawken.
1891, September 24
William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken."Cornishmen in Canada. [Specially Contributed]." The Royal Cornwall Gazette, Falmouth Packet, and General Advertiser, (Truro, Cornwall, England), September 24, 1891, p. 6. Accessed from Newspapers.com on September 11, 2018. Link: https://www.newspapers.com/image/395661487/?terms=Wm%2BRalph%2BVyvyan%2BHawken
Hawken includes a Latin phrase at the start of this first essay. Hawken's pretty bad Latin, "Venande aut agrum colendo statem agere" should be "Venandi aut agrum colendo statim agere" meaning "the act of hunting or agriculture". Basically he says that "[He's] not being like others of [his] age and contemporaries, in [pursuing] {the act of hunting or the act of agriculture}". Polgreen was a farm and Hawken is noted as a farmer, living among a family and village of farmers. I believe he's just saying that he doesn't want to pursue farming/hunting (agriculture) unlike everyone else around him.
Hawken's essay also says that he traveled to Canada in November 1890 and after 4 months went to “Washington” (pretty clearly meaning D.C.) and New York City.
In Cornwall Hawken says he worked with, was close to, antiquarian A. J. Jewers, who a Google search lists him as editing many local history books, articles.
1891, October ?
William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken."Cornishmen in Canada (continued)." The Royal Cornwall Gazette, Falmouth Packet, and General Advertiser, (Truro, Cornwall, England), October 1891, p. 6. Accessed from Newspapers.com on September 11, 2018.
1891, December 23-30
William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken Arrested in England: December 23-30, 1891.
A pay-to-view site documents and details the legal case against "William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken," charged with "Stealing valuable securities to wit transfers of certain shares in the International Osonite Company, Limited, and forging and uttering the same. (5 Indictments.) Remanded from the last session.” (Note that the International Osonite Compan had offices in London, as well as lower Broadway, in New York City, which perhaps suggests some link to Werther in the U.S.) "Remanded from last Session" (December 23-30, 1891).
1892-1902? William Hawken, Ralph Werther, and Clark Bell
Werther says in a handwritten note on the Underworld manuscript that he “was employed by Clark Bell.” (See p. 33 of the scanned Underworld document in pdf.)
In the typed text of the Underworld (also page 33) he says the lawyer he worked for was in his “sixties at the time he employed me.”
Clark Bell was in his sixties from March 12, 1892 to March 11, 1902 (based on a birthdate provided in a New York Times article in 1918 announcing Bell’s death). One of the few facts we know for sure is that Ralph Werther worked for Clark Bell between 1892 and 1902.
Several newspaper articles discuss a “William Hawken” (sometimes spelled Hawkin) as an employee of Clark Bell. <CITATIONS?>
"William R. V. Hawken” (a onetime employee of
Bell) is referred to as “Ralph Vyvyar” which Randal Sell notes is similar to “Ralph Werther“.
1992, February 8: Guilty
On February 8, 1892, Hawken "Pleaded Guilty of Larceny Valuable Security." Outcome: "Recognizances with Surety to appear or Judgment when called upon and to keep the peace."
Source: Collection Description: England & Wales, Crime, Prisons & Punishment, 1770-1935. Hawken Birth Year: 1868. (So he was 24 in 1892.) Note that this document gives the name of a friend/accomplice as well as another pseudonym for Hawken.
See: Hawken - Prison Registers [3] - Genes Reunited www.genesreunited.co.uk/search/results?collection
1892, February 14:
On February 14, 1892, Lloyds Weekly Newspaper (London, Middlesex), p. 4 (on line) reports: "A Merciful Judgment. -- William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken, aged 24, was indicted for stealing a transfer of 15 shares in the International Okkonite company, the property of Frederick Lawrence Rawson. On the advice of counsel Hawken pleaded "guilty." He was for a short period the private secretary to Mr. Rawson. The transfers in question were purloined by him from the securities box of the prosecutor. --The Common Sergeant ordered the prisoner to be bound over in the sum of 100l. to come up for judgment if called upon, and to find a surety in the sum of 50l.
1893: Medico-Legal Journal
In 1893, Hawken is called "W. R. Vivian Hawken, Esq., of Cornwall, England." See The Medico-legal Journal https://books.google.com/books?id=g7pXAAAAMAAJ Clark Bell - 1893 - Medical jurisprudence ... M. D., New York City, and W. R. Vivian Hawken, Esq., of Cornwall, England. ... It was discussed by Thomas H. Manley, M. D., Judge A. L. Palmer, Judge Abram H. Dailey, Dr. Henry Drayton, and the author of the paper. ... The paper by Judge William H. Francis, of Montana, entitled, " Courts and Criminals," was then read.
1894, November 24: Evening Telegram
In the most complete article on Bell and Hawken, which appears in the Evening Telegram on November 24, 1894, "William Hawken" is described as “formerly a law student in the office of Clark Bell” and that “Mr. Bell gave him $3 a week” (p. ?, top of third column). Hawken is accused in this article of “forging Mr. Bell’s name” to cash checks. The case was presented before “United States Commissioner Shields.” This is probably "John A. Shields" mentioned as serving as "United States Commissioner" from about 1891 until August 1, 1894. ("John A. Shields' Successor," NY Times, October , 1894, p. 5.) Randall Sell made a request to the National Archives for more information on this federal case. <OUTCOME?>
Evidence shows that William Hawken worked for Clark Bell in 1893-94. <CITATION?>
A related article gives his full name as William Ralph Vyvyar Hawken <CITATION?>.
Hawken's name is listed variously as "William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken" (in arrest records from England in Dec 1891/Feb 1892), as "Ralph Vyvyar" in a newspaper story, and as "W. R. Vivian Hawken" and as "Vivian Hawken" in records of the Medico-Legal Society.
In handwriting on page 33 of Werther's Underworld manuscript it says: “I once gave Dr. Herzog, its present editor indisputable evidence I had been in the employ of Clark Bell.” This indicates to Randal Sell that Bell and Herzog did not discuss Werther despite their close relationship (otherwise why would Werther have had to give Herzog evidence). <CITATION FOR THEIR CLOSE RELATIONSHIP?>
Randal Sell finds it very curious that the Medico-Legal Journal announces the publication of Autobiography a month or two after Bell’s death in 1918 (Medico-Legal notice to be uploaded). Sell suggests that Werther knew Bell would not publish Werther's Autobiography given what Bell had accused Hawken of stealing from the Journal. And if Bell and Herzog didn’t discuss Hawkin, then it seems that Herzog didn’t know of the stealing incident that compromised Hawken.
The Evening Telegram article of November 24, 1894, also mentions that Hawken may have recently come to the United States from England.
In Werther’s article in the March issue of Urology and Sexology in 1919, titled “Boy-But Never Man,” he discusses visiting the “Crystal Palace” (p. 98) which existed in London from 1854 to 1936 (years Werther could have visited). The Crystal Palace in New York existed only from 1853 to 1856 (before Werther was born if we can believe his birth dates). Other items in the article such as “Essex Street” could be London references as well.
There is an article about a William Hawken, in New York City, “Out of Work and Starving” in the World on October 25, 1893 (to be uploaded). Here Hawken discusses being born in the U.S (specifically Baltimore) but being raised in England. It seems that Bell employed Hawken sometime after this article was published.
Re Hawken’s theft from Clark Bell. In the Evening Telegram article of November 24, 1894, mentioned above, Hawken’s full name is listed as “William R. V. Hawken.”
Another shorter article on November 24, 1894, in The World, spells out the full middle names. Here he is described as “William Ralph VyVyar Hawken.”
The end of this article refers to Hawken using only the middle names, reporting: “His friends managed to send “Ralph VyVyar” out of England.
Werther discusses on page 30 of Autobiography how he/she “built a pseudonym on my baptismal name….” This description discusses the interrelationship between Ws and Vs in the creation of such names.
William Hawken, Methodist Minister: 1891-1892
A William Hawken is reported to be in the process of becoming a Methodist Minister described in the Rome NY Daily Sentinal in 1891 (p. ?, fourth column article titled “Gathering of Methodists”).
The article says “these men have been preaching two years since they were admitted on trial." One of their names is "William Hawken.”
On page 29 of Autobiography Werther says that in the year 1891 “I preached about twelve times from the pulpit, besides being the leader of about a hundred secondary church services.”
On page 57 of Autobiography he says he is, at the time, “thinking of becoming a minister of the Gospel.”
On page 69 he says “I had been appointed a delegate to a student’s missionary convention in another city….”
Werther gives much detail about the convention through page 70 of the Autobiography. The Rome article doesn’t describe it as a “convention” as Werther does but rather a “conference” (Methodists today refer to "conferences" and not "conventions.")
In Werther's The Female Impersonators (p. 127) he indicates he’s a Methodist when he says “But this was probably on account of his Methodist bringing up, like my own.”
Randal Sell checked with the Methodist archives and they have records for a William Hawken who was “admitted” to the “Methodist Episcopal Church Central New York Conference” in 1889 but leaves the ministry AND the church between 1891 and 1892.
In Autobiography Werther states “1889 – I become a religious prodigy” and he indicates he was studying to be a Methodist minister for about 2 years before leaving the church. The church assigned him for most of those years to Fayetteville New York. If he was really only 15 at the time, which he indicates in Autobiography, then his family would probably have lived nearby.
If the Methodist William Hawken is the same Hawken arrested in England at the end of December 1891, how and why does he get from the Methodist conference described in the story in the Rome NY Daily in October of 1891 to getting arrested at the end of December in 1891 in England (see attached file TNA-CCC-HO140-138).
We know that the Methodists were commonly traveling back and forth between England and the U.S. So it is possible that Hawken was born in the U.S. (maybe New York and not Connecticut), and then travels to visit England, or that he was born or lived in England and then moved to the U.S. as a missionary (the Methodists in England were sending missionaries to the U.S.).
William Hawken Arrested: 1900
Finally, an article from The New York Times in 1900 describes a “William Hawken, twenty-eight years old, of 9 Rector Street” charged with “larceny of two or more typewriters.” <CITATION?>(Document to be uploaded.) This Hawken is the right age and from a neighborhood that Werther said he cruised. Could Hawken stealing a typewriter be related to Werther's writing books and articles? In Underworld Werther states “My first three books have had the benefit of three typings before publication.”
We know Werther typed his manuscripts and finished the first by 1899 (if we can believe his dates in Autobiography). This Hawken in 1900 says he writes science articles which fits what we think Werther was doing.
The 1900 articles gives Hawken an alias of "H.D. Houghton." There is an "H.D. Houghton" arrested in 1894 (<CITATION> document to be uploaded) who also uses the name "Frank E. Ward." These stories describe Houghton/Ward as someone who could be Werther. Randal sell contacted numerous sources and am trying to find arrest records. <CITATIONS?>
Archives to Search
NYC municipal archives to see if they had arrest records.
Washington, D.C. arrest archives? The theft reported by Clark Bell was a federal case.
Additional Miscellaneous Evidence
Sell found the name of a librarian and assistant librarian that worked for Clark Bell (from Ancestry.com). <DID EITHER LEAVE ANY PAPERS AND SAY ANYTHING ABOUT HAWKEN OR WERTHER?>
Oscar Wilde
For what it's worth, Oscar Wilde’s second son was named Vyvyan at birth but then switched back and forth between Vyvyan and Vivian. Doubtful that Werther was using this as his inspiration, but Werther was obsessed with Oscar Wilde (there’s a chapter in Autobiography on Wilde). Werther referenced Oscar Wilde when discussing how to disguise one's name (see Werther/June Research). And the name of Wilde's son, Vyvyan/Vivian, would have been known publically in the late 1880s before 1892 when Vyvyan/Vivian was used by Hawken.
William Ralph Hawken in London: 1887
One source refers to "William Ralph Hawken" as residing in London in 1887. If this is the same person as William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken he could not have been in the U.S. at the same time.
https://books.google.com/books?id=sHs0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA48&dq=%22ralph+hawken%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYrKTT9MrLAhXFbz4KHVp1BEYQ6AEIKDAC#v=onepage&q=%22ralph%20hawken%22&f=false This document refers to a "William Ralph Hawken." If you flip to the front it, the bookplate indicates that it’s from the library of Leland Stanford. Leland Stanford founded Stanford University but he studied to be a lawyer at Cazenovia Seminary in upstate New York. That was a seminary where Methodist ministers were being trained and it’s the tiny town William Hawken was assigned by the Methodist Episcopal church in 1889. Sell contacted Cazenovia to see if they had records of Hawken.
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CHRONOLOGY
RALPH WERTHER AND WILLIAM HAWKEN(S) CHRONOLOGIES COMPARED
A pdf of this chronology using different colors to highlight different evidence types will be sent to researchers requesting it from Sell at randy@drexel.edu
If William Hawken is Ralph Werther/Earl Lind/Jennie June (sources in black) the biggest problems is explaining how/why the William Hawken minister in upstate NY (sources in blue) gets from the conference described in the story in the Rome NY Daily in October of 1891 to getting arrested as William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken (sources in purple) at the end of December in 1891 in England. William Hawkens noted in green may be other Hawkens. A possible explanation is that Hawken was born in the U.S. and then travels to visit England as a Methodist minister, or more likely that he lived in England and then moved to the U.S. as a missionary (the Methodists in England were sending missionaries to the U.S. and going to Cazenovia would be a logical place to be sent) and then traveled back and was arrested. Could Boat Passenger Records answer this?
1868 (or 66 or 67 if calculated based on being reported as 24 on December 23 1891): Birth Date of William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken - From arrest of Hawken at the end of 1891 for FORGERY. Reported in records as age 24, profession as Secretary, Received into Custody on December 23, 1891, Date of Warrant is December 30, 1891, Offense as charged: “Stealing valuable securities to wit transfers of certain shares in the International Okonite Company, Limited, and forging and uttering the same (5 indictments.) Remanded from last Session.” Tried on February 8, 1892 and “Pleaded Guilty of Larceny Valuable Security.” Sentence or Order of the Court: “Recognizances with Surety to appear for Judgment when called upon, and to keep the peace.” (Source: Genes Reunited: Accessed Feb 26, 2017 from: http://www.genesreunited.com.au/search/results?collection=prison%20registers&lastname=hawken&page=4)
1874: Birth Date Ralph Werther “Year 1874—BIRTH AND PARENTAGE” (Autobiography p. 35); “Connecticut, famous for its wooden nutmegs and other freak products, gave to the world, in 1874, one of its half-dozen most widely known girl-boys.” (FI p. 53) See alpha research list for “birth place”.
1882: "I wrote stories at eight."(Female Impersonator 83)
1883-(calculated 1890 or 1891) Werther: "From the age of nine to sixteen, my parents sent me to a large boys' private school. (Auto. 42.) Earlier, he mentions a class of 40 and a class of 50 in one of his schools. (Auto 40) "From the age of nine to sixteen my parents sent me to a fairly large boys’ prep school several miles from my hometown. But in only my senior (sixteenth) I boarded there. The students were almost exclusively high-strung, wealthy boys of the type that parents cannot manage at home and so send away to boarding school having a reputation for strict discipline. Werther describes sex between "virile" boys at the school. (Riddle Manuscript http://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/earl-lind/manuscript/two)
1887: "At thirteen I was confident I would become an author and my name be chiselled on the walls of fame."(Female Impersonators 83)
1897, December 18: Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, p. 48.
At a meeting of the Royal Colonial Institute in London, England on December 18, 1887, “The Secretary read the Minutes of the last [DATE?] Ordinary General Meeting, which were confirmed, and announced that 48 Fellows had been elected,” among them “16 Resident” Fellows that include a “William Ralph Hawken, Esq.”
SOURCE: Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute. Volume 19. 1887-1888. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1888, p. 48.
https://books.google.com/books?id=RV4NAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA48&dq=%22ralph+hawken%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjU-oa33-LSAhVLKiYKHTwiDdYQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=%22ralph%20hawken%22&f=false
Sell: Yes, the internet turns up random things. For example, the book that is the source of this information, if you flip to the front it, the bookplate indicates that it’s from the library of Leland Stanford. Leland founded Stanford University but he studied to be a lawyer at Cazenovia Seminary in upstate New York. That was a seminary where Methodist ministers were being trained and it’s the tiny town William Hawken was assigned by the Methodist Episcopal church in 1889. I previously contacted Cazenovia to see if they had records of Hawken and they do not.
However, this could be a twenty-year-old William Hawken who gets arrested in December 1891 in England for forgery, travels to the U.S., gets hired by Clark Bell (as a law clerk) and gets arrested for forgery, and is arrested for forgery as Harry D. Houghton.
1889: “1889-I become a religious prodigy” (Auto p 48); Werther: “experiencing religion” or “being converted” at the age of fourteen"; "at the age of fourteen I became a God-intoxicated youth." (II: “The Boy” Riddle manuscript on OutHistory.)
1889-1893: Werther: "At fifteen [1889 or 1890 if born 1874] I developed into a religious prodigy. Until my debut as a quasi-public female-impersonator at nineteen [1893 or 1894 if born 1874] I, though the most melancholy person of my community, was active in church work. During these four years [1889-1893], I attended seven religious services a week (exclusive of college chapel every morning during two of these years) and from fifteen to seventeen, spent two hours a day in private devotions in addition. As early as fifteen [1889], I was the leader of prayer meetings. I preached from the pulpit a dozen times at nineteen [1893]—a few months before I relinquished all Church work because instinct drove me to female-impersonation."(FIs 76; also see: "1889-I BECOME A RELIGIOUS PRODIGY" (Auto 48)) Also: “My intention from the age of fifteen to nineteen to pass my life as a foreign missionary and preacher of the Gospel was relinquished because inconsistent with the much stronger appetency of the fairie, which finally carried all good resolutions before it.” (Auto p. 40)
1889, October 9-15: The Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Fall Conferences of 1889 Report (Oct 9-15, 1889, p. 311): “Quest. 2: Who are Admitted on Trial: Li Shan Win, Joseph L. Gillard, Howard L. Rixon, Francis Dickerson, George Britten, William P. Garret, Montraville L. Taplin, William H. Hawken. [JNK What does the H. stand for????] The minutes also state on page 312 under the question “Where are the preachers stationed?” “Fayetteville, W. H. Hawkin” (note different spelling). WHEN WAS THIS WILLIAM HAWKEN BORN AND WHERE? In the Female Impersonators (p. 127) Werther may be indicating he’s a Methodist when he says “But this was probably on account of his Methodist bringing up, like my own.”
1890: Werther: "made my secret known to my family physician. . . .Like most physicians in 1890, he did not understand the deep-seated character of my perversion." (Auto 49)
Re college Werther says: "At sixteen [1890 or 1891 if born 1874], I entered a college in New York City."(FIs 82) He would still be 16 in 1891…. This possibly gives a clue to birthdate since he would be turning 17 in the later part of 1891 if he enters college at age 16 in 1891, the year he indicates elsewhere). Werther says: "at the age of sixteen, chose a college" in NYC (II: “The Boy” Riddle mss. on OutHistory.)
1890, October 8-14: The Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Fall Conferences of 1890 Report (Oct 8-14, 1890, p. 372): “Quest. 3. Who Remain on Trial: Li Shan Win, Joseph L. Gillard,Howard L. Rixon, Francis H. Dickerson, George Britten, Wm. P. Garret, Montraville L. Taplin, Wm. H. Hawken, Clement E. Hoag, J. William Terry.” The minutes also list the name “William H. Hawken” on page 372 after the questions “What Local Preachers have been elected Deacons?” and “What Local Preachers have been ordained Deacons?” The minutes also state on page 373 under the question “Where are the preachers stationed?” “Fayetteville, William H. Hawken”. Also note his name is spelled “Hawkin, W. H.” in the index on page 573.
1890, October 15: "William H. Hawken" assigned to Freetown, Cazenovia District
Source: ““The Central Conference. Close of Its Week’s Session at Oneida Yesterday. Where Preachers Will Go. The Appointments Assigned to Methodist Episcopal Conference For the Coming Year.” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), 15 Oct 1890, Wed, Page 1. Click this link to go to the image: https://www.newspapers.com/image/135244590
1891, September: Werther says: "YEAR 1891-FRESHMAN IN UNIVERSITY." (Auto 48) Entered "a university in the City of New York" which was an hour by train from home.” "During the first two years of college "I regularly engaged in mission work in the slums as an avocation. I preached about twelve times from the pulpit, besides being the leader of about a hundred secondary church services. (Auto 48- 49) See note 1890, above…..not a problem if you think he turned 17 at the end of 1891, right) On page 49 of Auto (when discussing 1891 he says that “Moreover, in a great city, the temptation to a double life is exceptional.”
1891, September 30-October 5: The Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Central New York Conference (Sept. 30-Oct 5, 1891, p. 346): “Quest. 5. Who Are Admitted into Full Connection?: Joseph L. Gillard,Howard L. Rixon, Francis H. Dickerson, George Britten, William P. Garret, Montraville L. Taplin, William. H. Hawken, Clement E. Hoag, J.” The minutes also list the name “William H. Hawken” on page 346 after the question “Who are the Traveling Deacons of the First Class?” The minutes also state on page 347 under the question “Where are the preachers stationed?” “Fayetteville, W. H. Hawken”. Also note his name is spelled as in the previous year “Hawkin, W. H.” in the index on page 586.
Summary text of W. H. Hawken Methodist connection (from SELL, but less complete summary up to 1891 is in the 1891 notes: “HAWKEN, WILLIAM H., admitted on trial in October 1889; remains on trial and is elected and ordained Deacon in October 1890; admitted into full connection and is a traveling deacon first class in October 1891; and is withdrawn in 1892. Appointments: 1889-91, Fayetteville.
SOURCE for 1891 information includes: Official Minutes Central New York Conference, Volumes 22-24, 1891, p. xxxiv
References to William H. Hawken on following pages:
xxxiv, 42, 43, 45, 48, 60, 75, 84, 82, 89, 90, 94, 95 106, 107
Sell: I followed up with the Methodist archives and they have records for a William Hawken who was “admitted” to the “Methodist Episcopal Church Central New York Conference” in 1889 but leaves the ministry AND the church between 1891 and 1892.
1891, October 3: William Hawken discussed in Rome Daily Sentinel: “The young men who were to be received into the conference were called forward and addressed by Bishop Joyce. These men have been preaching two years since they were admitted on trial. At the close of the address the entire class were admitted to full connection by the conference. Their names are: Joseph L. Gillard, Howard L. Rixon, George Brickson, William P. Garrett, Francis H. Dickerson, Monteville L. Tompkin, William Hawken and Clement L. Hoag.” The Rome article doesn’t describe it as a “convention” like Werther does but rather a “conference” (being a Methodist I know they still today discuss conferences and not conventions which is a strike against my case here). This information is also reported here: 1891, October 6: “W. H. Hawken” assigned to Fayettville, Cazenovia District Source: “Gathering of Methodists. Their Fields of Labor. Assignments of Pastorates Announced at Cortland. The Close of the Session. Ministers of the Central New York Conference Allotted their Charges for the Year — A Territory Extending Into New York and Pennsylvania.” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester NY), Oct 6, 1891, Tuesday, p. 1. https://www.newspapers.com/image/135461212/?terms=%22%22William%2BH.%2BHawken%22%22%2Bmethodist
1891, December 23: William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken arrested in England for forgery;Reported in records as age 24, profession as Secretary, Received into Custody on December 23, 1891, Date of Warrant is December 30, 1891, Offense as charged: “Stealing valuable securities to wit transfers of certain shares in the International Okonite Company, Limited, and forging and uttering the same (5 indictments.) Remanded from last Session.” Tried on February 8, 1892 and “Pleaded Guilty of Larceny Valuable Security.” Sentence or Order of the Court: “Recognizances with Surety to appear for Judgment when called upon, and to keep the peace.” (Source: Genes Reunited: Accessed Feb 26, 2017 from: http://www.genesreunited.com.au/search/results?collection=prison%20registers&lastname=hawken&page=4)
Sell: charged with stealing shares in the “International Okonite Company” which had offices in London, but also lower Broadway where Werther might have been. We also know that the Methodists were commonly traveling back and forth between England and the U.S..
1891-Winter, through 1892: Werther: “Melancholy.” (Auto. 54)
1892, February 8: Tried and plead guilty according to court records.
1892, February 9: From the Denver Evening Post, 11.30.1894 describing William Hawken’s arrest for stealing from Clark Bell in 1894 “….who are in the opinion that the man in custody at New York is identical with William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken, who was charged at the Central criminal court, on February 9, 1892, and bound over to come up for judgment, when called upon, for stealing securities, value $800. His friends at that time promised to see him out of the country.”
1892, Feb 14: "A Merciful Judgment," Feb 14, 1892, Lloyds Weekly Newspaper (London, Middlesex), p 4 A Merciful Judgement. – William Ralph Vyvyan Hawken, aged 24, was indicted for stealing a transfer of 15 shares in the International Okonite company, the property of Frederick Lawrence Rawson. On the advice of counsel Hawken pleaded “Guilty.” He was for a short period the private secretary to Mr. Rawson. The transfers in question were purloined by him from the securities box of the prosecutor. – The Common Sergeant ordered the prisoner to be bound over in the sum of 100l. to come up for judgment if called upon, and to find surety in the sum of 50l. accessed March 6, 2017 from https://newspaperarchive.com/uk/middlesex/london/lloyds-weekly-newspaper/1892/02-14/page-4?tag=william+ralph+vyvyan+hawken&rtserp=tags/william-ralph-vyvyan-hawken/
In Auto p. 133 Werther says “While secretary to a millionaire in the suburbs.”(probably 1897 according to the dates in the book)
1892 April: “About the middle of April came a characteristic experience of an invert's life. Shortly before my usual hour of retiring, an old schoolmate, a stalwart and handsome youth, who had spent the day in the city, called and asked to remain over night. I experienced a shock, knowing the temptation such an arrangement would be to me.” (Auto p.55, year is assumed based on the placement of this discussion in the book)
1892 June (Auto p. 59) he discusses “finally, on an evening in early June, I arose from my studies and prepared for my first nocturnal ramble.” Describing this first nocturnal ramble, on p. 60 he says “JENNIE JUNE” IS INTRODUCED.”
1892, June 15: A William Hawken is a pall bearer at a funeral (in Rochester, NY, apparently). Heading: “Deaths and Funerals. . . .” Text: “The funeral of the late Ambrose F. Moran, took place yesterday morning from the residence of his father, No. 33 Bartlett street…. and one-half hour later from the church of the Immaculate Conception. . . . The bearers were: . . . William Hawken. . . ." SOURCE: Democrat and Chronicle Rochester, New York, Wednesday, June 15, 1892 - Page 9 https://www.newspapers.com/image/135198083/?terms=%22%22William%2BH.%2BHawken%22%22%2Bmethodist (Sell note: Rochester is on lake Ontario in upstate NY 100 miles for Cazenovia).
1892 (date based on Auto): Werther: "at the age of eighteen, overwhelmed with remorse in the realization that I was sexually abnormal, I went successively to two New York medical professors (Dr. Prince A. Morrow and Dr. Robert. S. Newton) and pleaded that they make a genuine man out of me." (II: “The Boy” Riddle mss. on OutHistory.) Werther consults a third doctor about his "abnormality": "The third physician from whom I sought a cure for my sexual abnormality gave me to understand as early as 1892 that my case was a remarkable one. This pronouncement incited me still further to keep a record of what life brought me with a view to writing an autobiography some day. (Auto. 17)
1892 (later in the year I assume based on placement in book just before the introduction of 1893) Werther says “I had been appointed a delegate to a student’s missionary convention in another city….” (p. 69) Werther gives much detail about the convention through page 70 of the Autobiography. AND then just before introducing 1893 he states “REJECTED BY PROVIDENCE FROM MINISTRY” "The convention, to me, was a lesson in resignation. The other young men were divinely brought there to be inspired with the Holy Spirit, to be instructed in regard to missionary fields and methods, to be called to preach the Gospel among those who sit in darkness; but I was brought there to learn the lesson of resignation in affliction, to experience the crushing to the earth by the mighty hand of God, to be tried like Isaac to see whether I am willing to be morally slain in my youth in a way which seems inexplicable. I have been preparing myself to become a foreign missionary, having had this career in mind from childhood; but God and Nature have undoubtedly destined me to be a [fille de joie].” COULD THIS BE THE CONFERENCE WHERE HAWKEN WITHDRAWLS (see next note).
1892, October 5-10: The Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Central New York Conference (Oct 5-10, 1892, p. 340): “Quest. 23. Have any Withdrawn?: W. H. Hawken, W.F. Butman” The minutes also state on page 340 under the question “Where are the preachers stationed?” “Fayetteville, to be supplied”. Also note his name is spelled as in the previous year “Hawkin, W. H.” in the index on page 586.
(sometime between) 1892, March 12 – 1902, March 11: Werther says he worked as a law clerk for Clark Bell. Bell was a lawyer and editor of the Medic-Legal Journal, and a director of the Medico-Legal Society. Clark Bell was in his sixties from March 12, 1892 to March 11, 1902 (based on a birthdate provided in a New York Times article in 1918 announcing Bell’s death). Werther in Riddle of the Underworld: "An episode of my own checkered life was employment in a New York law office and as counsel’s clerk in New York’s criminal courts, by the irony of fate at the very height of my fairie career: at night a fairie; during the day, clerk to a great criminal lawyer. One of his cases before my time was the defense of a cultured and moneyed fellator from the charge of fellatio in Central Park. The lawyer merely recounted it to me on an occasion when I was trying to get him interested in the defense of an androgyne acquaintance who was in difficulties. The great lawyer never evidenced a suspicion that I was myself an androgyne, being himself in the sixties at the time he employed me. All that I distinctly remember about the fellator was that he had been actually guilty with a young husky in Central Park. The latter had discovered his identity and was blackmailing him. The fellator had recourse to the courts along the line of ridding himself of the blackmailer. The lawyer and himself together established a false alibi."
Werther adds to the above comment the following note: "I was employed by Clark Bell, LLD, founder and for many years, editor of Medico-Legal Journal. I once gave Dr. Herzog, its present editor, indisputable proof that I had been in the employ of Clark Bell. I refer to Dr. Herzog on this point. He [Bell?] once remarked that criminal lawyers knew “absolutely nothing about inverts.” I attended the criminal courts on Centre Street with Clark Bell as his clerk when he was defending criminals. His identity is known to the editor of the Medico-Legal Journal and the editor. I will get Dr. Herzog’s permission for this note." SOURCE: http://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/earl-lind/manuscript/voyeurism
1892, Fall. Return to college. “My return to college in the fall of 1892 was followed by a decline from the high spiritual level attained during the summer vacation, this decline being especially marked by periods of depression,….” (Auto 65)
1892, November: "Second Nocturnal Ramble." “If the reader had been on Mulberry Street between Grand and Broome on an evening in November of 1892, he would have seen meandering slowly along from one side of the street to the other with a mincing gait, a haggard, tired-looking, short and slender youth between eighteen and nineteen,” (THIS WOULD PUT HIS BIRTHDAY IN NOVEMBER OR DECEMBER)
1892, late: Werther consults Dr. Prince Albert Morrow a specialist in venereal diseases followed by a "medical college professor," an "alienist" Robert S. Newton who tried “both drugs and electrical stimulation of the brain and spinal cord..” and “Hypnotism was attempted unsuccessfully.” (Auto 68.) Dr. Newton in his early 30s received a “Doctor of Medicine from New York University” in 1892 (source: https://books.google.com/books?id=215QAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA526&lpg=PA526&dq=robert+s+newton+alienist&source=bl&ots=d-XCRXSF89&sig=WWRQYQ799w7RyJQHDTZ4lz481jg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjd7rmXoYHTAhXpllQKHbexAcEQ6AEIIzAE#v=onepage&q=robert%20s%20newton%20alienist&f=false). First appeal for castration. (Auto 68-69). “during these months I had made diligent search at the library of the New York Academy of Medicine….” (Auto p. 69)
1892, late: “During this course of treatment occurred one of the crises of my life. I had been appointed a delegate to a student's missionary convention in another city, and was assigned to a room with a rather athletic student from another college.” (Auto 69) …. “I lay awake the whole night, but during the last half was in a sort of delirium. I partially yielded. The next morning, before several other students, my bed-fellow spoke sarcastically of me, evidently intending to visit on me what he considered to be deserved punishment. I was crushed by reason of shame, and they never saw me again, as I left by the next train.”….. “"What have I ever done that God should make me suffer so? I feel that my abnormality bars me out of the ministry, the profession of my choice, and most likely out of all other professions.”…. “I have been preparing myself to become a foreign missionary, having had this career in mind from childhood; but God and Nature have undoubtedly destined me to be a [fille de joie].” (Auto p 70)
1893, (April ?): "YEAR 1893-FAIRIE APPRENTICESHIP BEGINS Over five months after my previous visit, I again found myself on Mulberry Street, corner of Grand." (Auto 79) "Fairie Apprenticeship Begins." Back to Mulberry Street and Red Mike. (Auto 70-71); Werther refers to "my debut as a quasi-public female-impersonator at nineteen" [1892 or 1893 if born 1874] (FIs 76) Werther says: "I preached from the pulpit a dozen times at nineteen [1892 or 1893 if born 1874]]—a few months before I relinquished all Church work because instinct drove me to female-impersonation."(FIs 76) After walking several blocks in vain, I returned to the "gang" at the warehouse's portal, and asked: "Do you mind if I sit down to rest here? I am tired and lonesome. I have not been in the city long and don't know any one." "Where did yez come from?" "Philadelphia. I couldn't get any work there, so I came here." [noted because he talks about Philly which is mentioned in other places by some of the “other Hawkens” and because it’s an instance of him lying about where he’s from ](Auto p 71); Discussing the begniing of his adult female-impersonation apprenticeship: “In 1893 at the age of nineteen I count my adult life to have begun.” (Riddle p.5 of the typed pdf)
1893: “On now making my decision henceforth to follow Nature's behests, I gave up the city mission work I was engaged in, and also finally gave up my purpose of entering the Christian ministry.” (Auto p. 74)
1894, May: "Nervous breakdown." Werther can't complete junior year at university and leaves NYC middle of May. (Auto 88) He provides a substantially different version in a later manuscript, published on OutHistory: "Six years subsequent to my adventure with the prude [at prep school], when I was expelled from the university for being an androgyne, I came within an ace of suicide although believing that none of my family even suspected my expulsion; I having explained that my New York physician had ordered me to rest my brain on account of neurasthenia, which malady the expulsion had immediately occasioned as a matter of fact." Source: http://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/earl-lind/manuscript/two
1893, Oct 5 (or 6th..hard to read in clipping): William Hawkens claims he arrived in the U.S. on the steamship Spree. Source: “Out of Work and Starving,” below.
1893, October 25: William Hawkens “Out of Work and Starving” The Evening World (NY, NY), October 25, 1893, p. 6. Clipped from Newspapers.com HAVE CLIP “Refers to “William Hawkens” and discusses his being born in the U.S (specifically Baltimore) but being raised in England. Hawkens, “a good-looking young Englishman, went to Ellis Island to-day and begged Dr. Senner to give him some work to do as he was almost starving. He said he came of a family that was once wealthy. He was born in Baltimore, while his parents were travelling in this country twenty-six years ago.” So he was born in 1867 if this is correct (or at the end of 1866, after Oct 25). “He studied for an engineering draughtsman. His parents died several years ago and the family lost most of its wealth. He came here on the steamship Spree Oct. 4, and looked for work.” The Spree did travel between Bremen Germany and New York multiple times in 1892 but not recorded for 1893 after it had a major accident at the end of 1892 (see: http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=spree)
1893, Nov. 8: Meeting, NYC, of The Medico-Legal Society.“W. R. Vivian Hawken, Esq., of Cornwall, England” elected one of the “ACTIVE MEMBERS” of the Medico-Legal Society, p. 354 for date of meeting; p. 355 for Hawken being elected one of the “ACTIVE MEMBERS”. Medico-Legal Journal, vol. 11 (1893). Note different spelling of Vyvyan name. Of interest because this is Clark Bell’s society. SOURCE: The Medico-legal Journal https://books.google.com/books?id=KhoCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA355&dq=%22w.+r.+vivian+hawken%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvm8X46YjTAhVr0YMKHeDdBXUQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=%22w.%20r.%20vivian%20hawken%22&f=false
1894, May (possibly 1893 but placed in book just before discussion of summer 1894): “I am now going to recount how I happened to abandon Mulberry Street as my "stamping ground" when I had so many accommodating friends there. On account of a nervous breakdown, due partly to overstudy, partly to debauchery, but chiefly to emissions during sleep which had afflicted me twice a week since the age of sixteen, I was unable to stay out my junior year in college and left the city the middle of May.” (Auto 88) He provides a substantially different version in a later manuscript, published on OutHistory: "Six years subsequent to my adventure with the prude [at prep school], when I was expelled from the university for being an androgyne, I came within an ace of suicide although believing that none of my family even suspected my expulsion; I having explained that my New York physician had ordered me to rest my brain on account of neurasthenia, which malady the expulsion had immediately occasioned as a matter of fact." Source: http://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/earl-lind/manuscript/two
1894, Summer: Werther: "In this summer of 1894, when away from New York, where temptation was less strong, I became for several weeks weaned away from my peculiar habits. (Auto 91) Suffered "sexual starvation." (Auto 91) "My New York physician" advised a "mate." (Auto 92) "First Soldier Companion." "detachment of light artillery, stationed at a fort near New York City" were camping in a neighboring town. Werther walked 20 miles to the town and camp in a day. (Auto 96) "First Arrest." (Auto 97) Locked up in jail for night and next day sentenced to 3 days in jail in town 4 miles from where his family lived. Father heard about arrest. (Auto 98).
1894, August: There is an interesting arrest of a Harry D. Haughton in 1894 that could be Hawken or Werther. A William Hawken is arrested in 1900 for stealing typewriters, see below, and newspapers report he also uses the alias of H. D. Houghton. A search for this alias finds this arrest in 1894 which fits with Werther’s chronology and character. It also fits between Hawken leaving employment with Bell in June or July and being arrested in November.
1894, August 1: “This Is How He Looks: A swindler photographed by his intended victim.” The Sun (NY, NY), p. 7. The article describes how someone passing themselves off as “Frank E Ward” sits for a photograph and passes a bad check using the Ward name. The Sun prints the photograph hoping the public can help find him and arrest him. The check “Ward” uses is from the “Fourteenth Street Bank” where we know Werther hangs out. The photo shows a man wearing a suit with a large bow tie (like Werther discusses wearing).
1894, August 23: articles below offer more information, but an article on this date in The World mentions “He was photographed for the Rogue’s Gallery at headquarters today.” DOES THE CITY HAVE THIS PHOTOGRAPH?
1894, August 24: “Check Swindler Caught.” New York Herald article. Says the check was signed C. E. Gordon which conflicts with the article on July 1. Houghton is described as a “tall dark eyed man of fine personal appearance, and is 23 years old.
1894, August 24: “His Vanity Caused his Arrest: Petty Check Swindler Houghton New Regrets Sitting for His Picture.” New York Times article says “after posing fastidiously before the camera of Joseph Hall” The article goes on to say “Their vigils were rewarded yesterday when they arrested Harry D. Houghton, alias Frank E. Ward, twenty-three years old, who gave his place of residence as a Bowery lodging house.” The article discusses how he passed a bad check for a membership card at the YMCA at 23 Street and Fourth Avenue. Now why would he want to join the YMCA? The article ends by saying “he admits it was very stupid of him to allow his vanity to induce him to face the camera.” A follow-up article in the times on August 25 tells how C. C Balston first met Houghton in 1891, “and almost immediately fell a victim to the young man’s persuasive tongue”…….Houghton, he said, victimized him every few months, and each time promised to reform.”
1894, August 24: “Check Swindler Ward Caught” Says he lived in the “Palma Lodging House” in the Bowery at 92 Bowery [Sell: a quick search finds a Henry Groge shoots himself in May 1892 with a suicide note written at the Palma, Christopher Schoenbaum shooting himself at the Palma in December 1892, a Thomas F. Brady drinking poison in November 1895, and Michael F. Martin cutting his own throat at the Palma in 1896]
There is also an arrest of a H. D Houghton reported in The World “of the Metropolitan Collecting Agency, 18 West Fourteen Street, who is accused of swindling Frederick Musse, Jr. of 137 West Sixteen street, out of $100, was held for examination in the Jefferson Market Court today.”
The NY Times article above discusses his “vanity” which is discussed throughout Lind’s Autobiography and the Female Impersonators. Herzog states in the intro to Auto on p. 14: “His avowed purpose in writing and desiring the publication of his Autobiography, is, as I stated before, by describing his martyrdom, to lighten the burdens which other Androgynes have to bear; yet my study of him makes me think that the underlying and perhaps to him unknown reason for the creation of this Autobiography is vanity. The author is extremely vain. Werther states on page 27: “I am rather vain, and have been guilty of contemplating my reflection in a mirror.”
In FI Werther states on p. 104: “Fairies are extreme dressers and excessively vain. To strange adolescents whom I passed on the street I proclaimed myself as a female-impersonator through always wearing white kids and large red neck-bow with fringed ends hanging down over my lapels.”
1894 July: Hawken in an affidavit appealing his conviction (described below) says he “severed connection with him [Bell] of my own accord]”
1894, September 15-November 13: Clark Bell’s first letter to City Police Office, London, re “William Ralph Vyvian Hawken,” was dated September 15. The London police respond but he was charged on February 9, 1892. They further say that “his friends at the time promised to see him out of this country.” SOURCE the Nov 24, 1894 Evening Telegram article described below. Bell sent a second letter on October 18, 1894, and the Police responded on November 13, 1894 (dates from the same newspaper article).
1894, November 20: “Used Mr. Bell's Name. Hawken Said He Was Authorized To Sign For The Attorney." The Evening World (NY, NY), 20 Nov 1894. First article describing Hawken arrest.
1894, November 24: Two newspaper articles describing Hawken’s arrest appear in the papers on this day.
“London Police Aid Clark Bell.” The New York Evening Telegram.
“Left England for Its Good,” The World (NY, NY)
The World spells out the full middle names. Here he is described as “William Ralph VyVyar Hawken” and at the end of the article, curiously using only the middle names it says “His friends managed to send “Ralph VyVyar” out of England. Werther discusses on page 30 of Autobiography how he “built a pseudonym on my baptismal name….” This description discusses the interrelationship between Ws and Vs in the creation of such names. Vivian, Vyvyan, and Vyvyar are all in print for a middle name. Vyvyan is the name in the legal records in England. Sell: Only interesting thing I’ve come up with is that Oscar Wilde’s second son was named Vyvyan at birth but then switched back and forth between Vyvyan and Vivian. Doubtful he was using this as his inspiration, but Wether was obsessed with Oscar Wilde (there’s a chapter in Autobiography on him) and Werther was referencing Oscar Wilde when discussing how to cover your name. And the Vyvyan/Vivian Oscar Wilde thing would have been known publically in the late 1880s before 1892 when we’re finding it used by Hawken.
The Evening Telegram article describes Hawken as “formerly a law student in the office of Clark Bell” and that “Mr. Bell gave him $3 a week.” Hawken is accused in the article of “forging Mr. Bell’s name” to cash checks. The case was presented before “United States Commissioner Shields.” The article says “He visited Mr. Bell’s office a year ago and asked for employment, saying he had been in this country a short time and had been private secretary to Lionel Cohn, a member of Parliament.” [There was a Lionel Cohen who was a member of Parliament from 1885 until June 1887 when he died). Sell: this definitely fits with the October 25, 1893 article above about the William Hawken Englishmen walking around hungry. This would indicate he worked for Bell from around October or November 1893 until June or July 1894 (the Sun article says he was “discharged” in June, while Hawken’s legal appeal for the left of his own accord in July). What I find interesting here is that he is talking about being a private secretary to someone powerful which Ralph Werther frequently does as well.
An editorial in the Medico-Legal Journal at the end of 1894 (Sell: I can’t determine the date when it was written. It was published in the last issue of 1894 but that doesn’t mean it was written then). The editorial summarizes what is written in the newspaper articles above adds importantly about the forgeries that “he some times signed W. Hawken and some times V. Hawken.” This is another example of switching between V and W as Ralph Werther describes:
“While reading "Escal Vigor" many years ago, your author was convinced that the book was primarily written by Oscar Wilde and based on his own life experience. This suspicion is confirmed by the name of the book, the two words having the same length as those of the name of the individual; the second and third letters of the first name being the same in both, as well as the second letter of the surname while the initial V is the French equivalent of the English W, the novel having been first published in French. I have myself built a pseudonym on my baptismal name in similar fashion.” (Auto p 30)
What is also interesting is that Vyvyan was the name of Oscar Wilde’s son, which Werther would have almost certainly known.
WAS WERTHER BRITISH? DID HE LIE ABOUT WHERE HE GREW UP? For example, in Werther’s article in the March issue of Urology and Sexology in 1919, titled “Boy-But Never Man,” Werther discusses visiting the “Crystal Palace” (p. 98) which existed in London from 1854 to 1936 (years Werther could have visited), while the Crystal Palace in New York existed only from 1853 to 1856 (before Werther was born if we can believe his birth dates). Other items in the article such as “Essex Street” could be London references as well. And there in the article about a William Hawken “Out of Work and Starving” in The World on October 25, 1893 Hawkens discusses being born in the U.S (specifically Baltimore) but being raised in England.
1894, November 25: The Sun (NY, NY) “Charged with Forging Clark Bell’s Name “ “William R. V. Hawken, formerly a law student in the office of Clark Bell, at N. 67 Broadway…… on a charge of forging Mr. Bell’s name on May 20 last to a money order for $7.” Does indicate Hawken as working for Bell as late as May (other sources have Bell discharging him in June, and him saying he left of his own accord in July). Says he was a “student” in Bell’s office. The May 1894 entry above has him having a nervous breakdown and leaving college in his Junior year.
1894, November 30: Denver Evening Post (Denver, CO) article seems to be a summary of the slightly longer New York Evening Telegram article on November 24, 1894 described above.
1994, December Werther says his female impersonation sprees started "December (1894) of my senior year." (FIs 103); during his senior year at university in NYC. (Auto 103) "I Become a High-Class Fairie" in NYC. (Auto 104)
1895, January: On one of my earliest visits to Paresis Hall—about January, 1895” (FI p.151)
1895 January 8: Filed indictment. SOURCE: Docket USCC SDNY CR B01972.jpeg
1895 January 9: Arraigned, pleaded not guilty. SOURCE: Docket USCC SDNY CR B01972.jpeg
1895, April: (from FI p. 153) “On the basis of different visits to an upper room permanently rented by the Cercle Hermaphroditos, I am going to build up a typical hour's conversation in order to disclose into what channels the thoughts of ultra-androgynes run when half-a-score find themselves together. The reason for its unnatural ring is that I omit the nine-tenths that were prattle, retaining only the cream that I consider of scientific value. It was about eight o'clock on an evening of April, 1895.”
1895, April 16-17: William R. V. Hawken tried and found guilty. SOURCE: Docket USCC SDNY CR B01972.jpeg
1895, May 24: William R. V. Hawken “Sentenced to 3 years imprisonment at hard labor. Sentence to be executed at Elmira Reformatory.” Also on that day “Filed ???? in support of move for new trial.” SOURCE: Docket USCC SDNY CR B01972.jpeg HAVE JPEG. With Handwriting of Hawken 1895 plus 3 = 1898
189?-189? - “A few years out of college, Ralph Werther is seen, pale and hollow-eyed, climbing into a prison wagon with other culprits recently sentenced by the judge, and on their way to take the train to serve their various terms in state prisons. The slums were combed in order to obtain witnesses against our nut-brown boy.” Source: The American Journal of Urology and Sexology, Vol XIX. No. 10. October 1918.
1895 June: But in June I was fortunate in being introduced to some refined "young fellows" living near Stuyvesant Square, five minutes walk from the Rialto.
1895 August: It is August, 1895—several weeks after Buddie McDonald had left me in the lurch, as he had his legal wife, and as he probably through life went on deserting quondam soulmates when having no more use for them. Furthermore, during this single summer that I frequented the Rialto, I found it a barren stamping ground for myself.
1896, October 7: William Hawken in list of Episcopal clergy, in Addison (NY?) “No Bishop Has Yet Been Chosen. Gathering of Episcopal Priests and Laymen in Buffalo Yesterday. The Nominations Made. An Adjournment Had Until To-day After the Placing of Several Names Before the Body.” At Trinity Church, Buffalo. “The role of the clergy of the diocese was called . . . . Following is a list of the clergy entitled to seats in this, the second special council of the diocese: . . . William Hawken, Addison. . . .” Source: Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) 07 Oct 1896, Wed Page 14 https://www.newspapers.com/image/135259440/?terms=%22%22William%2BH.%2BHawken%22%22%2Bmethodist
1900, August 25: New York Times
Source: “Charged with Theft of Typewriters.” New York Times, August 25, 1900, p. 7, col. 3. “Central Office Detectives Dunn and Davis, in Center St. Court, yesterday charged William Hawken, twenty-eight years old, of 9 Rector Street, with being a fugitive from justice from Washington DC where, according to information received by the police hear from superintendent of police Richard Sylvester of Washington, he is wanted for the larceny of two or more typewriters. From papers found in Hawken’s possession, it appears that he was at one time acting editor of the financial bulletin of the Philadelphia News Bureau.”
SELL: This guy is the right age and from the right neighborhood (9 Rector) for our story. And isn’t it a curious thing to steal, a typewriter, unless perhaps he was busy writing books! In the Underworld Werther states “My first three books have had the benefit of three typings before publication.” JNK: Werther says he was born in 1874: 1900 minus 1874 = 26, so he is not quite the right age.
1900, August 27: “Alleged Typewriter Thefts: A Hearing for Hawken and Wild Tomorrow” The Times (Washington, D.C.), August 27, 1900, Page 8, Image 8
This story refers to “William Hawken, alias H. D. Houghton, a gentlemanly appearing fellow about thirty years old. . . .” His associate in the alleged crime is “Francis C. Wild” who conducted an employment agency in D.C. They did pawn the typewriters which discounts the theory Werther was using them to write his books. Sell: We know Werther typed his manuscripts and finished the first by 1899 (if we can believe his dates in Autobiography). This Hawken in 1900 says he ‘was a newspaper man, and scientific articles were his specialty.” The article goes on to say “He is an Englishman and has been in this country but a few years.” The reporter adds that “He is intelligent and is an interesting talker.” This sounds to me very much like the hungry William Hawken walking around in 1893 and claiming to have just come to the United States from England. Finally, H.D. Houghton’s friend in these articles is Francis C. Wild which is strangely similar to Frank E. Ward which is an alias of the H.D. Houghton arrested in 1894 (see above).
1902 or 1903 (if ages in Auto are correct): CASTRATION: “This probably made it become less and less common during coitus, although from the age of sixteen until I was castrated at the age of twenty-eight, it averaged twice a week during sleep.” (Auto p 82). Would be castrated in the picture on page 83 of FI.
1905 (Pre-July): Shufeldt published in July 1905 the only known description of Ralph Werther by someone other than Werther himself (or Herzog in the introductions to Auto or FI). Note that he only uses the names “Ralph Werther” and “Jennie June” to describe the author: “An author of a certain manuscript brought the latter to my study for examination with the view of my suggesting a publisher for it. In this latter he had been entirely unsuccessful, and those whom he had brought it before pointedly declined to undertake the venture, giving various excuses for so doing. Nearly every one of them, however, who read it, laid especial stress upon the danger attaching to the publication and sale of a work of that character—that is, the danger arising from what the law might think of it, and the action the courts might take. I went over the manuscript with very considerable care, and unhesitatingly came to the conclusion that it should be printed in its present form, with perhaps some editing in the matter of its literary style. There appeared to be sufficient copy to make an octavo volume, of some 350 pages, with no illustrations, and was in very excellent shape to go directly to the printer. The story consists of a very complete biography of one Ralph Werther, otherwise known as Jennie June, who was well known to the writer of it. A clear, and helpful introduction precedes the subject-matter of the work. Here, among other questions, the sexual invert is denned, and considerable light let in upon their general history. He truly points out how little, how very little, is known about them, adding that " Krafft Ebing, of Vienna, and Havelock Ellis, of London, are the two physicians whose writings on the subject have been most widely read. Until a few years ago the medical profession had given no attention to these human sports, but recently several other physicians have issued works on the subject. However, even at present, this abnormal variety of the human species is mentioned in no lectures in our medical colleges, and not one physician or lawyer in ten has ever read anything about them." Ralph Werther throughout his brief life had, in all anatomical particulars, the form of a man, though bearing to some extent the impress of the opposite sex. His psychic nature always remained distinctly that of a girl, and that, too, of a very amorous and passionate girl. In fact, he was a girl with the body of a boy. Intellectual and educated to a high degree, she passed through the most remarkable life-experience imaginable, from childhood to the day of self-destruction, which occurred before 30 years of age. During this time, the wonderfully interesting subject of this account kept a very full diary, and scores upon scores of letters, and other matters calculated to shed ample light upon the terrible cruelties and tortures he had passed through. This was done with the view of publishing an autobiography, an undertaking she never succeeded in accomplishing, as every publisher declined the manuscripts. All this and much more besides, fell into the hands of the gentleman who has now prepared the history for publication, and I may say that it is the most complete and valuable confession of one of these sexual inverts that it has ever been my good fortune to have read. From first to last it is the strangest possible picture, or long series of pictures, of the criminal section and of the criminals of New York City. It is an object lesson to every doctor of medicine and lawyer in this or any other civilized nation. It should be read by every sociologist, anthropologist, and professional person in this country, and therefore, most emphatically, it should be printed and placed in the hands of the same. In fact, as I have said in a former paragraph, all such true and authentic accounts should be given to the world; no kind of real knowledge should be suppressed, and especially the very species of knowledge set forth in the manuscript here being considered. There is absolutely no line to be drawn in the premises, and, in reality, no line can be drawn, and the day has gone by when the priest can dictate to the world what shall and what shall not come off the presses. This is the twentieth century and not the fifteenth, and printed truths have become our best protection, and the light of knowledge the greatest safeguard of the world. How can we ever hope to improve the tissue of which our race is composed unless we are familiar with every cell now included in its composition? This demands the very closest study of every type in existence, and particularly the abnormal and objectionable types, and an enormous number of these are to be met with among the psycho-sexual perverts. Regard it from any point of view we may, it is our bounden duty to do this and do it thoroughly.” (from: R.W. Shufeldt, The Medico-Legal Consideration of Perverts and Inverts, Pacific Medical Journal, July 1905) [This indicates that Ralph Werther had succumbed to “self-destruction” by the age of 30, but we know that Werther was approaching people to publish his book and saying he was doing it for the author.].
SELL: I checked with the New York State Public Library and New York State Museum for Shufeldt materials and they have none pertaining to this investigation. Shufeldt did actually dissect the last known living Passenger Pigeon (which he wrote about).
1905 May 3 and June 3 (Auto p. 181): “Adventures with the Men of FT. Z.” described including a beating “a few days later” than June 3 that resulted in his pursuing charges and his description of a court martial (see below).
1907 or 1908 (if ages in FI and Auto are correct): Picture on page 83 of FI is taken by Shufeldt in his studio (that is a common background in Shufeldt nudes). The picture says “Front View of the Author at Thirty-three.” If he was born in 1874 as stated in Auto, then he would have been 33 in 1907 and 1908. Sell: My guess is Shufeldt would have known Werther was the author of the book in the previous note by the time he took these pictures. Werther writes of Shufeldt in FI p. 266 saying: “Dr. Robert W. Shufeldt, author of Studies in the Human Form, has included at least one fairie among the many human beings the results of his physical examination of whom he has published.”
1917, August-September Issue of Medico-Legal Journal (Vol.84, N. 5-6): Herzog writes a very progressive editorial on “Homosexuality and the Law” that is published a few months before Bell’s death. Sell: Could this have encouraged Werther to approach Herzog about his book?
1919 January: “The first of the trilogy, the Autobiography, was published in January 1919.” (Riddle p.1 of typed manuscript) (Herzog copyright is January 26, 1919)
1919, June: Seems to indicate this is when he starts writing the FI and Riddle: “I began a supplement. On first typing, the subject matter of the present second and third members of the trilogy was intended to appear within the same covers. But several who read the crude draft advised me to separate the matter into at least two separate works, in general along the lines that I have actually followed. The Female-Impersonators and The Riddle have thus been elaborated into their final form almost simultaneously.” (Riddle p.1 of typed manuscript); “The first of the trilogy, the Autobiography of an Androgyne, was published in January, 1919. In the following June, I began a supplement, The Female-Impersonators.” (FI p.3)
1921 December: “At the date this volume goes to press (December 1921)” (FI p.251) Copyright for FI is Oct 27, 1922.