Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1856-02-05
Divorce case in Philadelphia.

\ case l. about tn be brought before the Com
mon Pleas nPhilodelphia which promises rich de-
veopmen,s. Il is interesting 10 the literary world.
The facts are as follows: A gentleman of this
city, of high literary emnence, married his sec
oDd wife, Caronan. some ten or twelve years
since and went "a reside in Charleston. 5. c.,
where her property lay. After residing there for
some six seven years. for some reason unex-
planned the gentleman wished for divorce and
requested the lady TO go to nsylsanion which
State his object would be more readily obtained.
The lady would not consent aud sometime after
wards the gentleman sent her "a document to gn
she then being at Schoocy's Mountain, n. j.,
which document. i, is alleged. was avowel
written by her husband. on her part, asserting
that she had .'wilfuy maciously and without
cause Abandoned him" The lady refused TO
sign saying that such not The case. in the
fact that the statements made IN the document
were unequivocally false, and she would not be
accessory to the disruption of the marriage on
false pretences.
At this time the lady had under charge the
youngest daughter of her husband by his first
husband by his wife, to whom she had been
constituted legal guardian by the Chancellor
without opposition from the. father; and upon
whom she had expended some $4,000 for the pur
poses of education. On the ladys way to New
York, with this little girl, who appears to have
been strongly attached to her. the husband lay
wharf, he seized the child and ran of with her
followed by his terrified wife aud one Of the boat
men, who tore off the skirt of his coat in the
struggle Placing the child in carriage, the
gentleman DIR I'VE off, but presented himself the
same day at the house where his wife was stay
ing, offering to restore the child to her, aud give
u paper confirming her perpetual guardianship
beyond the power of molestation, condition
of her signing the important document which
uul enable IN
one Of the two three ladies' whom he said he
had in view.
The child, miserable in her separation from her
guardian, and i'll from the shock and terror of
her forcible abduction wrote imploring letters
beseechng her darling mother" 10 yield TO her
fathers wishes friends and legal counsel repre-
scented that her forced signature could avail
nothing; the fathe, walked up and down the
street-caed every few minutes to inquire ''if
the papers were signed," threatening eternal sep
aration from the child if they not, and in n
half distracted state, with n protest against its
falsehood, the weeping lady affixed her signature
TO the document, aud had the little girl immcdi
ntely restored to herr the promised paper securing
her guardianship being withheld till he should be
sure of it efficacy in procuring the divorce The
promised paper was never given.
The lady thought proper to caution he lady to
whom her husband was paying his addresses
and wrote to inform her that be had neither di-
vorce any right to one. After her return to
Charleston, she was surprised one day to the
announcement of his marriage To lady from the
State of Maine. Having received no notification
OF the action for divorce, she directed her coun-
sci in Philadelphia to investigate the matter
and il IA divorce had really been granted to enter
her protest against the decree.
The court records gave evidence, tho pa
pers on the subject having, it was said, been alb
stracted; the Supreme Court, therefore, could not
net on that appeal; but the counsel said he be-
liesed the plea had been granted on the suppo-
scd voluntary statement of the lady, and point
had even been stretched to oblige her in the mat
ter. Consequently the lady's counsel. ID. p
Brown. Esq, then procured. in the court of com
mon pleas. rule tn show cause why the decree
Of divorce should not be rescinded or annulled
on the ground that it had been oil tanned by fraud
and imposition on the court So stands the case
Several authors, we understand, have been sub
ponied and constrained to give evidence. When
the testimony is made public in full, AS we un
derstand it will be, strange and curious practi
ces will be brought to light, shaming the inven-
ton OF French novclists The third wife of the
gentleman in question, it is seid, has retreated
from the coming storm to the shelter of her
brothers house in Bangor.-N. Y. paper.