The Shasta courier., 1866-09-15
Unnatural Crime--A Sad Story.

of the pen of public journal to chronicle
story of wrong so foul or crime so unnatural
and revolving as the one it is now our dutv
and purpose to set forth
On the 4th of July last, it may be remem.
bered by many residents, a youthful pair
Joined in the holy bonds of wedlock, at the
Washington Hotel in this city. The bride
was pretty, gentle creature, in her-teeps
with dreamy look of serene happiness in
her eyes, that bespoke the JOY that was in
her better than words. The groom was an
parently very young, but seemed fully con
scious of what he was about. and as proud of
his prize as he should be- The marriage was
celebrated without anything like pretension
and the parties retired to their home, on the
Salinas. where they were. well known and
generally esteemed. The couple Immediate.
ly went to housekeeping at some distance
from the paternal roof of the bride, and re.
lapsed into the little world they had created
Would that we could rest here, and say no
more But no we must strip away the cur.
tain from this domestic Elysium, and expose
the cesspool of iniduity and corruption that
lurked within its sacred portals.
On last Sunday morning the community
was not a little startled by the appearance of
the young husband in town, aud his appi
cation for the arrest of his father in-law on
a charge of incest. Accordingly the so call
ed father was arrested and brought before
Justice Callaghan on Tuesday The accused
was held to answer on the charge before the
Grand Jury, and in default of So 900 bail,
was remanded to jail. The circumstances,
as we have been able to learn them, are as
follows: The crime committed on the
Sth day of July, only four days after the
marriage The newly married were, it ap-
pears, with few friends. visiting at the
house of her father. in the afternoon the
father requested his daughter to 90 with
him, as he wished her to read letter to
him. She, however, refused, until persuad-
ed by her husband, when she reluctantly left
the room with her father. She alleges that
he took her some distance into the brush on
pretence of the letter. and then deliberately
compelled her to submit to his bestial en-
braces She came back weeping, but that
was explained to the husband as the effect of
the bad news in the letter. She made no
revelation of the facts to her husband or any
one, and they returned home. The young
wife, however, it appears, brooded over hes
terrible secret, and on a subsequent occasion.
when her father wished her to go to his
home, she objected strongly, and on being
interrogated by her husband, she informed
him that she vas afraid of her father, and
made some remarks that called forth the
young mans suspicious. On Sunday morn
ing last. being unable longer to restrain
herself, she diyulged to her husband
the revolving affair of the Sth of July. The
husband was thunderstruck. and on the i'm
pulse of the moment took her back and de-
livered her to the moral leper whom she calls
father. with the intention. we understand, of
abandoning her. On the arrest of the lech
erous old debauchee, her parent, she was
brought in and she made the recital as above,
in modest and refined manner But,
stranger and more revolving than all. it ap-
peared from her testimony that this was by
no means the first or only occasion he had
perpetrated this nameess wrong. He first
violated her person a year ago last June,
within very short time after her mothers
death, and had continued his abominable
practices at his pleasure since The case
has curious phase here. We cannot see
why the girl did not apprise some one Of the
facts, for she must certainly have been cog
infant of the enormity of the crime
The miserable old brute who is now in
Jail has, we believe, been living on the Sa
linas, where he has family of children.
some of them small His wife died about a
year and half ago. We understand he
does not deny having committed the act, but
does not seem to regard it as crime He
now AYERS that his victim is not his daughter
He says he purchased her when she was
eighteen months old, from mulatto woman
who was at the point of death; he paid seven
hundred and fifty dollars for her, and be had
right to do with her as he pleased A
pretty story to tell sane men Altogeth r
it is a most remarkable case, and not more
strange than sad. We believe the husband
and wife have been reconciled, and we real
ly hope such is the case. As for the hideous
old reprobate of father. the purulent old
ulcer of the community, we will leave to his
own vile reflections and to the Grand Jury.
T-Monterey Gazette.