Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1850-11-28
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NJ AIRY MIDDLETON.

THRILLING AccouNr-A WIFE MURDERED by HER HussANp
The following account OF error and murder.
taken from the Criminal Records of Edgeieid
District, South Carolina, VIZ trust will serve as
a warning to our youthful readers against the
indulgence of their vicious lnclinations:
MARY MIDDLETON was the daughter of Mai.
Hugh Middleton, one of the wealtaiest and
most prominent men of Edgefeld District Her
mother died when she and her two sisters we're
quite young, and her father soon Afterwards mar
ried second wife, The step mother was
woman Of harsh and cruel temper, and from
the fiIst moment when she crossed the threshold
of Major MiddIeton's door as his wife, she be-
gan to heap upon little Many and her sisters, eve
ry species of lll.Ieatment Their education was
entirely neglected, no smiles or caresses were
given them, they were poorly clad, md their as
socatps were the slaves of the plantation. AS
time passed, and the st@p-mother had children
other own, the treatment Of Mary and her sis
ters became worse, and they were banshed al
together the ptro;, and compelled % sleep and
eat with the slaves, aud often even to labor with
them in the field.
Tnus they grew up to won1nhool, when the
elder sister had the COOL fortune to get married.
Mary went to live with her sister, and there the
tempter, in the person Of relative of her sisters
husband, crossed her path. lie reached her
through the voice of sympathy for her foIlorn
condition. 1t was voice TO which she had new
er been accustomed it came like music on her
ear, and she fell. 1t was not strange that she
did. knowledge erected no barrier before he-
virtue to oect 1t; spirit, enteebled by long
i'll usage, was ready, ut the first word Of kind
ness, TO open every avenue to her heart and
the issue in this unequal warfare, was from
the beginning, in the hands of the treacherous
assAlant.
A child was the fruit of Mary's guilt, and the
punishment soon followed. Driven from her
SISTERS door with harsh and relentless cruelty,
there was no refuge to which she could fly but
her fathers house. There, too, the prospect
was black with despair. Past sufferngs, endu-
cd at the parental hearth, in the days of her
chlldhood's innocence, obscured all hope ol wei
come in the hour Of her woman's shame. 1t was
winter when she was turned from her sisters
roof, and the weather was cold aud stormy, but
onward through rain and seet, and chilling
blast, Mary bore her child, until weary and
ha h,. lntI,n
the arms of the slaves vino had deserted her ap-
proach, and had hastened out to meet her. The
cruel step-mOthel, who had tortured her youth,
was dead, and another Mrs. Middleton, kind,
good, and lenicnt to the erring, reigned IN her
stead.
Major Middleton had again married, and it
was the third wife, whom Mary had never seen,
who now attracted by the noise IN tho yard came
running out to ascertain the canse. She saw at
a glance how mutters stood. She had often
heard of Mary from The slaves, and at the sight
bef"re her, her heart melted with pity. By her
orders, the mother and her child we're at once
carried into the house, and placed before the
blazing fire, where BOTH by the aid of reslora-
t'ves, were soon revived. All that kindnhss
could do was performed by Mrs. Middleton, and
she herself saw Mary and her infant placed in
conf 1rtsbe bed.
Her father was absent at the time, and did
not return until evening. When he came in.
and was eating his supper, he heard the faint
cry OF his daughters child His brow imme.
dHtely darkened, and he inquired what it
meant.
Your poor child, Mary, has come home with
her child to ask your forgiveness; forgive her
my dear husband, she has suffered much, and il
she has sinned, has paid bitter penalty Cast
her not away, but let nature and mercy plead in