Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-06-11
G0lortester 1aiIp spp.
New Orleans Correspondence ofthe ST Louis Republican
ROMANCE OF THE LOST ISLAND CALAM-


A story strange and romantic enough to
seem the invention of an imaginative mind,
became known recently to few persons in
this city; vet, however, romantic or strange it
NAV sound the gentleman who communicated
ii to me assured me of Its absolute truth, and
gave me the names of the parties connected
with the affair. At the time when that terri
Bile catastrophe occurred at Lost Island, off the
Southern coast of Louisiana, by which so
many unfortunate people were swept bodily
into the Gulf by the raging tempest or over
taken and drowned by the rising flood that
overwhelmed the low, sandy key, middle
aged gentleman and his family, consisting Of
wife and two or three children, were involved
in the calamity.
In the midst of the thick gloom, the storm,
the confusion and terror of the scene, the gen
tleman became separated from his little family
and barely escaped with his life. The horror
and distress ofthe poor man at the sudden loss
OF his dear ones may be imagined by those
who love their own wives and children For
several DAYS his friends feared that his men
tai sufferings would deprive him of reason,
and one of them kindly invited him to make
his home at his house in New Orleans for
time, hoping that he would gradually come to
look more calmly upon the misfortune that
had befalen him.
1t happened that with the family in which
he thus became domesticated was living a
young and accomplished lady, of fine person
and manners, who, having compassion upon
the afflicted stranger, took upon herself the
pious duty of doing everything in her power
to alleviate her sorrows and make him forget
the past She played and sang for him, read
to him, rode with him, and finally laughed and
Joked with him-so feeting and transitory are
the greatest of human griets when brought
under the influence of the enjoyments and de-
lights of life.
In brief, she carried her consolation so far
that the gentleman became enamored, infatuat-
ed, and offered her his hand and fortune
Whether she reciprocated his passion, or
whether the fact that she was a poor school
teacher and he a wealthy planter influenced
her decision upon his proposition, is not
question proper TO be considered here. Suf-
flee it to say that she accepted his offer, stipu-
lating that, out Of due respect to public opin-
ion, a year must elapse before their union
should be consumated. AS time passed on
preparations for magnificent wedding pro-
ceeded. The gentleman purchased splendid
rousseau laid out his plans for bridal tour,
and for their subsequent domestic settlement,
and, in fact, everything went on swimmingly
until near the close of his term of probation.
The event of single day in this case, as in
thousands of others, served to destroy in an
instant his matrimonial schemes, though
whether his subsequent peace of mind and
happiness were not promoted thereby is
question short time previous to the day
assigned for his wedding he received letter
from his wife-sti in the flesh-dated from Rio
de Janeiro, informing him that she and one of
their children was alive and well, and would
probably be in his arms within very short
periods
1t appears that amidst the destruction and
chaos of the terrible storm in which it had
been supposed she and her little ones were
lost, Madame chung to her youngest
child, and when the waves submerged the isl
and and swept away everything upon it, she
foated out into the gulf upon certain frag-
ments of the general wreck. Drifting finally,
after much suffering, into the track of sea-going
vessels, to and from this port, she was picked
up by an outward bound ship and carried to
Rio, no opportunity occurring, in the mean
time, to send her back to the States. The
voyage was long one, and sickness had pre-
vented her from taking passage in the first
vessel that sailed for her native land and by
some fatality the letter which thus apprized
him of her existence reached his hands but
few hours previous to her own arrival. What
followed can readily be imagined-how the
sober, staid, middle-aged gentleman, doubtful
whether to be disappointed or happy, broke
the astounding news to his unsuspecting fan
Gee how she, poor girl, went first into tears
and then into Mysteries, and was finally con-
soled by his pecuniary iberality, and how all
parties ultimately resumed their original posi-
tons and were happy, the wife not being per-
mitted to know how narrowly her husband
escaped slipping his neck into a second matri-
monial halter.