The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-11-09
I III L DISPATCH.
close oT the Woodman Case in New
SorfS--A Tale OF Romance.


Tho case of Mrs. Carrie Woodman, who was at
tempting to regain her liberty from private la
hat'c asylum, by the aid Of habeas corpus, pro
cured by Gardner Furniss, was again before tn,
supreme Court Of New York, Thursday Mrs w
was placed in tho institution by her husband. VIII,
ilseS III New Orleans, because of her being unds,
the influence of Furness TO an extraordinary do
gree, and the affidavit of Mrs. Woodman confirm.
this fact by the development of perhaps the mos,
singular state of affairs made public In court
OF law. Tie following are tome extracts from the
affidavit:
was married to Oliver o. Woodman absnt ten
years since. In July, 1854. my husband took me
to Europe on account of my health | had been
suffering long time from a disease of the nervous
system. On the I'd of November he left me In Pa
ris under the charge of family of a mutual friend
that might have the benefit of the most skiiful
medical advisers. For the first two months 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 nv husband
returned to Paris, was confined to Ny rooms q
large part of the time by severe illness. My at
tending physicians were DIR. De L'Eau, Sir Joseph
oliver, Dr. Dubois and others. During April and
May my life was despaired OF, and my friends SO
wrote to Mr.. Woodman. / have often since wished
/ could have died at that time.
During my illness MIR. Furniss was extremely
kind and attentive to me, and gained my perfect
csnfdence-his influence over was like a
strange infatuation. / loaned him money freely
when | had it, some of which he paid back.
have no knowledge of the amount. But about the
time 1 returned to America he Informed me that
he owed me about sixteen hundred dollars, and
told me TO say nothing about it-that he expected
to be rich and would pay me back double the
amount At that time l thought nothing of it, and
did not care what he had had.
About November, lS55, left New York for the
South, and went for time to the house Of my father
in Mississippi. While there | corresponded with
said Gardner Furniss at his urgent request BY
means of my letters and otherwise, he had il then
in his power to ruin my reputation and, as he sup
posed cause me to be discarded by my husband. In
january, 1885, after l had returne4 TO New Or
leans and settled there for the winter, said FurnisS
arrived in New Orleans. The next day after his
ar -iyal he asked me for some money. l had then
only $50, which gave him. lie was 4Ot satisfied
with that. The next day obtained and gave him
$3.50 more lie urged me to get divorce from my
husband and then marry him Stated that he had
had lawyer to examine the laws of Louisiana, aud
that if could obtain divorce would be entitled
10 one-haif of my husbands estate il Louisiana,
and thus could obtain by that means from fifty to
seventy-five thousand dollars; that II | did not
create some difficulty and obtain divoTec he would
expose my letters to my husband, aud that there
Were expressions in them that would induce my
husband to apply for divorce, which would dis
grace ME. He afterwards called on me repeatedly
for more money, and upon my refusing to give it
him, he threatened TO show Mr. NoodnIan the let
tiers which had written him, and also portrait
of me which he had. lie told me the letters which
| had written him would cause Mr.. Woodman to
discard me- and that Ia :, Mr.. Furniss, would dis
grace and ruin me, unless l let him have all the
money l could get. had during that period,
allowance, from my husband of $l00 per month
all of which gave MIR. Furniss with that he got
along until the latter part of April. About the
25th of April he called on for money TO pay his
bcard-bill which he said about $50. | had
no money, and told him so. apon which, he not
only threatened Inc, but actually beat me with
vioience-broke open my wardrobe, and took
away my jewelry, and some valuable laCes, some
of which he dropped in the entry as he was
carrying them away, and again threatened to
disgrace me, and to send my letters to Mr.. Wood
man.
At one time, while in New York, he took from
me IL valuable diamond cross worth $500 or $500.
and told ME he had !ost it. He put all ADVERTISE
ment in the Herald for it; this he afterwards re-
turned
During the same autumn 1856, at the New York
Hotel, had $50, which laid part to pay bill of
Mrs. Dieden, dressmaker, fer $S2. This money was
in trunk which was standing open. No one
in the room but Mr. Furniss aud myself. When my
girl Jane came in directly, told her to take the
money and go and pay Mrs. Dieiens bill. She
looked for the money, but it was gone and could
not be found Furniss afterwards acknowledged to
me that he took 50 oft, and laughed.
About the same time Mr.. Woodman gave me the
money to pay for some small articles of furniture
which had ordered. FurDis took away most of
this money-all but S25-aud l was obliged to
make some excuse for not taking the articles to the
people from whom had bought them.
Last winter said Furniss went to New Orleans
again. 4 few days after his arrival he came to me
and asked me to give him 500, which did, and
gave him all my allowance, say SlU0 d
month. During that winter lie prosecuted HE con-
stantly with threats and exactions When 1 was
going 10 a ball III the evening" he would come into
the room and take my jewelry and put it into his
pocket and refuse to let me have it to wear unless
| gave him money, telling me that if | went with
out it Mr.. Noodnan would insist upon knowing
where it was gone--so / would make every effort
to raise money for hinl-and sell every thing in
my power-my dresses, rich embr0ideries-one
piece of embroidery which sold to Miss - cost
over two hundred dollars; most OF the articles /
sold to ladies of my acquaintance; made excuses
about my health-about going back to Paris &c.
| sold most of my very handsome handkerchiefs
some Of them cost SO or $50 apiece-my velvet
mantlla-Iny lace fOunCes-a great deal of expeu-
siye lace some two yards wide, some three yards
two very pretty lace bonnets which brought from
Paris In short, could not keep any jewelry or
any thing valuable in my room. l gavemy jewelry
box to Mir. WoOdnian, and requested him to place
the same in bank, pretending to him that was
afraid it might be stolen, but in fact to keep it
from Mr. Furniss, to whom told that MIR. Wood
man had taken my jewelry from me. All the most
valuable jewelry that have left, still remains in
bank at New Orleans
On Saturday, 10th August, arrived in New York
from Boston, by the Fall River boat, with my ne
phew, son Of Mrs. Hazards; the boat having run
into propeller, we arrived very late. l was
greatly tatigued, nervous and excited. Mr.. Pike
gave NE a room.
Oily aud took breakfast in the room; Mr.. Fur
Mss called but soon left. | sent my nephew down
TO MIR. Merrick, to see if he had any news of Mr..
Woodman, as l had not heard from him for some
time. and did not know that he had arrived in
New York. l had been expecting him to come
North for several weeks. and was very desirous to
know where he was. 1t afterwards appeared that
bod NJ
day evening previous, and sent my brother to Bos-
ton for me, but he missed me. Mr.. Wooduian hav-
ing discovered, just before leaving New Orleans,
something of my affair with Mr.. Furniss, had re-
Trained from writing to me-
After Oily had gone some one knocked at the
door. had partly uudressed-thOught it was Oily
come back; found it was Mr.. Furnss; he pushed in;
said now he wanted to have an understanding with
me- said tina, must give him 3, ,500 that if would
do 50, aud would contradict whatever Mrs. Hazard
might say, &c, he would leave ME alone, and never
trouble me any more. l told him could not; that
| had no means of getting it. Then he began to
abuse me, knocked me across the room; said he
would kill me; choked me hard as TO make me
black in the face; threw me on the bed and up
against the wall so violently almost to make me
senseess, and SO that he himself was alarmed, and
threw a pitcher of water on me to bring me to-
Then he pulled off his Clothes and screamed. and
Just then some one knocked at the door. l went
TO the door, and found it was Mr.. Woodman, who
had come up.
During the above interview Furniss urged me to
get the money by making out false bills, and get
ting the money from Mr.. Woodman, or by taking
jewelry. Also, he insisted that he knew my father
had given me $1,000 to buy diamonds silver, and
he was determined to have it. When he found he
could not get the money, he used violence as have
stated He said, ''your husband and your brother
are coming here; there'll be fuss; and mean to
ruin you first, and put you in the gutter, where
shall be hate you, and hate all your family,
because you won't behave to me as you should"
Mrs. W., in her statement, relates many other
similar scenes between Furniss and herself, and
says he attempted to make her forge her husbands
name to drafts. number of notes which passed
between the parties, are published, and among
them this one from Furniss to Mrs. W.:
Madam: Mr.. G. has not only sent bill but a
request to be paid, otherwise l should not have
distnrbed Your ladYship's siumbers.