Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-11-12
CLOSE OF THE wOODMAN CASE IN
NEW YORK.
A Tale of Ramanre


attempting to regain her liberty from private
lunatic asylum, by the aid of habeas corpus,
procured by Gardner Furniss, was again before
the Supreme Court Of New York on Thursday
Mrs. W was placed in the Institution by her
husband, who lives in New Orleans, because of
her being under the influence of Furniss to an
extraordinary degree; and the affidavit Of Mrs.
W confirms this fact, by the DEVELOPMENT of
perhaps the most singular state of affairs ever
made public in a court Of law. The following
are some extracts from the affidavit:
was married to Oliver o. WOodman about
ten years since In July 1854, my husband
took me to Europe on account of my health.
had been suffering long time from disease
OF the nervous system On the % of November
ne left me in Paris, under charge of family of
mutual friend, that might have the benefit
OF the most skilful medical advisers For the
first two months L was well enough to go out.
During this time formed the acquaintance of
Mr.. Gardner Furniss, whose mother and elder
brother had known in America. From early
IN January TO July, when my husbaIa returned
10 Paris, L was confined to my rooms large
part OF the time by severe illness. My attend
ing physicians were DR.. l. Fan, Sir J. Oliver,
Dr. Dubois, and others. During April and
May my life was despaired of, and my friends
40 wrote TO Mr.. Woodman. / have often since
wished l could have died at that time.
During my illness Mr.. Furniss was extreme
ly kind and attentive to me, and gained my
perfect confidence. HIS influence over me was
like q strange infatua alton. L loaned him money
freely when L had it, some of which he paid
back. 1 have no knowledge of the amount
But about the time | returned to America he
informed me that be owed me about sixteen
hundred dollars, and told me to say nothing
about II; that he expected to be rich. and would
Ill - l. 4
l thought nothing OF il, and did not care what
he had had
About November, 1855, left New York for
the South, and went for a time to the house of
my father.in Mississippi While there I cor
responded with said Gardner Furniss at his
urgent request. By means of nv letters and
otherwise, he had it then in his power to ruin
my reputation, and, as he supposed. cause ms
10 be discarded by my husband. In January,
1856, after L had returned to New Orleans and
settled there for the winter, said PurniSs ar
rived In New Orleans. The next day after his
arrival ne asked me for some money had
then only S1J, which L gave him. lie was not
satisfied with that. The next day obtained
and gave MIN $50 moro. He urged me TO get
divorce from my husband and then marry
him. Stated that he had had a lawyer to ex-
anime the laws of Louisiana, and that if I
could obtain q divorce / would be entitled TO
0ne-half Of my husbands estate in Louisiana.
and thus L could obtain by that means from
fifty to seyenty-fye thousand dollars that if /
did not create some difficulty and obtain a di-
VOrce, ne would expose nv letters to my hus-
band, and that there were expressions in them
that would induce my husband to apply for a
divorce. which would disgrace Inc. He after
wards called on me repea tedly for more money,
and upon my refusing 10 give it him he threat
ened to show Mr.. WOodman the letters which
l had written him, and also a portrait of me
Nb ha had H. told tI,a l., n
had written him would cause Mr.. WOOdman to
discard me, and that he, Mr. Furniss. would
disgrace and ruin me, unless let him have all
the money | could get. / had, during that
period, an allowance. from my husband, Of SlOO
per month, all Of which / gave Mr.. Furniss
with that he got along until the latter part Of
April. About the 18th Of April he called on
me for money TO pay his board bill, which, he
said. was about $3.50. had no money, and
told him so upon which he not only threat
ened me, but actually beat me with violence
broke open my wardrobe and took away my
JewelTy and some valuable laces, some of which
ne dropped IL the entry as he was carrying
them away, and again threatened to disgrace
me and TO send my letters to Mr. WoOdman.
At one time, while in New York, he took
from me a valuable diamond cross, worth $500
or $500. and told me he had lost it. lie put an
advertisement in the Herald for it: this he
afterwards returned.
During the same autumn, 1856 at the New
York Hotel, / had S5j, which had laid apart
to pay bill Of Mrs. Dieden, dressmaker, for
$50 This money was in a trunk which was
standing open. No one was in the room but
Mr.. Rurniss and myself When nv girl Jane
came In directly, told her to take the money
and 20 and pay Mrs. Dieden's bill. She looked
for the money, but it was gOno, and could not
be found. Furniss afterwards ACKNOWLEDGED to
me that he took - of il, and laughed.
AbOut the SArna time Mr. WOOhmau 0ava r,a
the money to pay for same small articles of
furniture which had ordered Furniss took
away most OF this mOney-all but S25-and /
was obliged 10 make some excuse for not TAX
ing the articles to the people from whom L had
bought them.
Last winter said Furniss went to New Or
leans again. A few days after his arrival he
came 10 me aud asked me TO give him 500
which / did, and afterwards gave him all my
allowance, say Sl00 u month. During that
winter he persecuted me constantly with threats
and exactiOns. When I was going to ball in
the evening he would come into the room and
take my jewelry and put il into his pocket and
refused TO let me have il to wear unless gave
him money telling me that if went without
IL Mr.. WoOdman would insist upon knowing
where IL was gOne-sO | would raise every ef-
tort 10 raise money for him-and sell every
ding in my pOwer-ny dresses, rich embrOide-
riss-one piece OF embroidery which sold to
olles - Cost over TWO nGnuTeu uOIlare, most
Ot the articles i sold To ladies Of my acquaint-
aDee; made excuses about my health-sbout
going back to Paris, &c. l sold most Of my
very handsome handkerch;sfs some of them
costing 5 > o. so apiece-ny velvet mantilia-
my lace hoances-a great deal Of expensive
lace, some two yards wide, some three yards
two very pretty lace bOnnets which / brought
from Paris. In short. l could not keep Jew
elry or any thing valuable in my room. /
gave my jsWelry box to Mr.. WOodman, and re-
quested him to place the same in bank, pre-
tending 10 him that was afraid it might DO
stolen, but in fact to keep il from Mr.. Furnss
TO whom told that Mr.. Woodman had taken
my jewelry from me All the most valuable
jewelry that have left, still remains in bank
at New Orleans H.
Oh Saturday, 18th of August, 1 arrived in
New York from Boston. by the Fall River boat,
with my nephew. q son OF Mrs. Hazard the
boat having run into a propeller, we arrived
very late. | was greatly fatigued, nervous
and excited Mr.. Pike gave me room