The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-08-19

her. and when the performance was
closed, he was waiting for her at the
tdoor. From the circus, instead of
going home, she fingered in his COM
pany, and finally accepted an invita-
tion to q refreshmeht saloon, where he
invited her to partake of ice-cream and
confectionery, and at last proposed
that the repast be finished by bottle
of wine. Scarcely knowing what she
did, the girl consented, and drank
freely of the beverage turned out for,
her with a liberal hand for her compa-
Mon. AS might have already been
anticipated, the wine was drugged.
The parties fingered in the restaurant
until late hour, seated alone in one
of the alcoves, and when the girl left,
she had been outraged and ruined by
the villain who accompanied her.
What next occurred or where she
went, Miss Stadts knew not. When
she awoke the next day, and became
sufficiently sensible to inquire her
whereabouts, she was in strange
place and surrounded by strangepeo-
pie. Bewiidered, she knew not what
to do, but at last gathered from the
replies to her anxious inquiries, and
the conduct of those surrounding her,
that she was an inmate of one of the
lowest disreputable houses which in
fest Wells street.
Who can imagine the shame and
remorse of this young girl when the
truth of her situation flashed s,pon
her? Reared as she had been, ten
oerlJ- and carefully, her growth and
life jealousy guarded by her parents.
is it any wevdcr that her mind gave
itself up to despair, and from that
moment she resolved upon q course of
sin and shame? In the bitterness of
the moment and the rcmorsc of her
heart, she says she believed that if
she returned to herra,cnts ruined and
diSgraced us she was, even though it
was by the deception and the wilcs Of
a villain, they would turn her from
their doors, and she would be an out
cast. She dared not so home-darcd
not apply to her friends; but in that
evil hour, listening to the sophistry and
false rcasoningof those who surround
cd hen, resolved to remain where she
was. and fcrsaking home, kindred and
formG' associations, gave herself up
to 4 life of inf:aly and shame.
The namc she now assumed was that
Of Mrs. Smith. She preferred to be
% widow, and for more than !: week
led Il life AMID those scenes of Iebal,-
cherry and crime which abound so
much in Wells street as to render it
Stunned aad abhorred by tlA good
and upright of Chicago.
In the meantime, her parents bc-
coming alarmed at her absence, made
unavaiEng search through the city.
but were un;sule to gain any trace of
their lost dausl4t At last they left
information concerning the circ,1m-
stances OF her disappearance at the
central police station, aud Detective
Police officer George NJ. Miller Was
detailed to prosecute the search for
her. His efforts were crowned with
success, and he was the means OF re-
storing her to he parents, who took
her home, where the history of hen
misfortrnes being kept secret, she was
again restoreoao her former position
and to the affection and confidence ns
old associates.
Res1iming the life she had been ac-
customed to-, lead, she met, in society,
a young man named Albert Rachke;
who made her a proposition of mar
riage. The girl herself insists that
she was opposed to accepting him, but
that her parents insisted upe her
/ marriage with Rachke, and she was
forced to accept him. Suffice it to say,
they were united. The husband pur-
chased a very pretty house on West
Twelfth street, near Blue Island Ave
nue., and furnished it neatly. Their
conjugal relations were not, however,
of the happiest nature. The marriage
was celebrated some five months ago,
and since that t;ane their home has
been the scene of quarrel and strife,
little Indicative of happy. marital re-
lations. One week ago last Monday,
the wife resolved upon self-destruc-
-