In Hopper's diary, four different individuals (all men: Hiram H. Goss, Ruben Gray, Charles Ryno, and Charles Liborious) are charged with bigamy.

                According the 1865 State of New York Penal Code, “every person who, having been married to another who remains living, marries any other person, except in the cases specified in the next section, is guilty of bigamy”. The cases specified mentioned in this definition refer to four specific exceptions to this law. The first exception is to those whose spouse has been missing for five straight years without any knowledge if the spouse is alive. The second is for when an individual’s spouse has left them and remained outside the United States for five straight years. The third is when a person’s marriage has been annulled or dissolved by a court. This third exception does not include if the person’s marriage ended with their own adultery rather than that of their partner’s. The last exception is if a person’s spouse was imprisoned for life.

                The punishments for bigamy ranged from serving time in a state prison (term could not exceed five years), to serving time in a county jail (term not exceeding one year), to a fine (which could not exceed five hundred dollars).[1]

[1] The State of New York. The Penal Code of the State of New York. By Alexander W. Bradford, William Curtis Noyes, and David Dudley. Albany, NY: Weed, Parsons, 1865. 124-28. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433090742887;view=1up;seq=….