Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1859-09-09
NUMBER Sc.

Because he has saved you from black
er crime than even Jonr vile soul is yet
stained with"
"What crime might that be. Has it
name p
ct has hathe Men call it incest"
"With whom How? What do you
mean 7"
"Let me answer him, father. John
Bromley, if there be hell you are destined
to it; but even at this point of your career
would eain save you. | loved you once:
May God be my witness, I loved you
You deserted me, deserted your children;
and when your youngest child died in my
arms. and I, half mad with agony, clasped
it close, close to my Breast men tore it from
me, and accused me of its murder. You
knew all that. You thought it glorious
opportunity to be rid of your victim. You
basely left me nay, worse than that, you
set the hounds of the law on the false scent;
you drove them up: You thought to LOSE
me thus. God saved me by a miracle, and
was saved. Then / hated you. No words
can tell how / abhorred your memory
Years softened that, and experience taught
me that this world is no place to cherish
such feelings. But when saw you again,
and when heard you renew your baseness,
and seal your old villainies by Offering to
unite to YOUR own vile self young, pure
girl-forgetting that had ever existed
| then I saw that God had determined on his
vengeance. and I did not seek to stay it,
John Bromley that girl yonder, that child
that shrinks in horror from your accursed
presence, is your child p
''My child!
"Your daughter by your wife y
"Say rather, madam, my daughter by
my"
! a back-handed blow, slight but efectual
on his lips. drove back the foul word to the
heart that originated it.
"Have care how you handy harsh words
here. Mr.. Bromley"
''This from you, Stevens! On you,
Sir, what do you mean by striking me e
because you choose to insult me"
II Insult you how, pray 7"
"By limiting that did not marry you to
Miss Cameron"
II never had doubt of it. What the
ID have you, Of all men, to object to my
calling her "a"
"Stopl Speak the word and III kill you !
Curse you, John Bromley I've owed you
one some time, and I've paid it now. I'll
have you know I'm priest, SRA priest,
by Jupiter and if you doubt, III begin by
showing you that belong to the church
militant anyhow. They've a trick in this
State of proving a man married who only
says he is. in anybody's presence; but you
we're married body and soul, if there's any
virtue in ceremony performed by a clergy
man in good and regular standing, if he
does drink little too much now and then"
The news was astounding to Bromley
He could not doubt it, and his quick mind
saw at once all the bearings of his case.
"A pretty lawyer you are, Judge Came
ron to commence suit in partition, in the
name of a grantee of my wife, without my
concurrence.
s.Not so fast, Mr. Bromley. Your wife
conveyed her rights to her father long be-
fore she eloped with you. You perhaps do
not recollect that the old suit was begun in
my name"
VERY well, very we'll I am not wanted
here. But must beg you to excuse me if
l request my daughter to accompany me
home this evening. have been deprived
of her company so long, that | shall hardly
be able to spare her.
"Ask her husband"
"Of course he need not ask" said Freds
erick Bromley, entering. Il would as
soon trust her with tiger"
:'By whose sanction do you claim right
to her hand young man? | Fancy writ
of habeas corpus will bring some Of you pco-
pie to your senses"
II fancy a marriage with the consent of
a mother who has for seventeen years been
sole guardian Of her child, will stand against
all your writs, John Bromley"
The bafAed man left the house. But an
officer was waiting at the door to arrest him
for dozen frauds in his transactions with
his cousins, and he passed the night in as
dirty cell as the keeper Of the city prison
could be bribed to put him in.
1t would be pleasant to end this narrative
with relating the restoration of the defeated
william to position Of honor and Of self.re-
spect But that may not be. Ruined in
fortune and character, the mercy Of his tor
mentors never led them to forgive him in
one small particular, but they exacted atone-
ment to the uttermost of the law.
He was placed on Jail limits in New York
and wandered about the streets in rags, and
at length disappeared. 1t was at first sup
posed that he had run away, and the sher-
if fearful of the usual action on his bond,
offered reward for his recovery. Some
boatman won the reward by producing
miserable carcass found floating in the river
which was identified as the remains of John
Bromley.
TALENTS NO PROTECTION Were they
so, Bacon would never have taken tribe,
nor would Dodd have committed forgery;
Voltaire might bave been another Luther;
David Hume another Matthew Hale; and
IL L. Al