Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-10-30
but it is owing to where I go from


aud after u short time went to board al
No. "A West Seventh street. The gen
tleman with whom they boarded and his
family had known Miss Howes Mrs.
Davis No. p before, aud being entirely
ignorant of the antecedents OF Captain
Davis, treated him and his supposed
wife with the utmost kindness, and rs
members Of the family. Davis and Miss
Howes lived there as man and wife for
some three or four months. They then
changed their boarding house to the
house of Mr.. Moss, on John street, giving
Mr. Moss the most satisfactory references,
aud Captain Davis and his wife soon
become favorites in the family. The
pair staid there until the spring of 1867.
The father of Miss Howes being in
formed that all was not right, and that
Capt Davis had another lawful wife,
came to this city to look after his
daughter. Capt Davis at that time made
it convenient to have business out of
town. Mrs Davis No. 2 went home with
her father, telling Mr.. Moss and his
family that her mother was very sick,
and required her services ct home
In the fore part of May last Captain
Davis thought of the Indiana divorce
laws as means TO get him out Of the
scrape, and, procuring the assistance OF
lady of easy virtue, denizen of. a
house on East Sixth street, he went with
her to Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and there
introduced her TO Hon. N. NJ Given, a
lawyer, as his wife. He stated that they
mutually desired divorce. Mr.. Given
was employed to obtGin one, and shortly
after he filed in tho Dearborn Common
Pleas Court the petition of Mrs Davis
No. /, for a divorce, the cause being en- .
titled, " Sarah j. Davis vs. Josiah w.
Davis" setting up the marriage with
Miss Sarah j. Winkley; and claiming a
divorce on the grounds of neglect to
support, abandonment, and adultery.
Mr.. Givah, supposing everything right,
proceeded with the case, aud in June
last took dispositions in this city, at the
Office of I. 4 C. Gazlay, 81 West Third
street, to prove the case. By the wit
nesses brought forward he proved enough
adultery to enttle several wives to a
divorce from Capt. Davis, The case was
called in July, but Mr.. Givau having
heard some things that led him to be-
lieve the cause was not just, refused to
have it submitted for trial, or to have
anything further to do with it. Capt
Davis then engaged Judge Hanes, of
Aurora, to put the case through. The
Judge told him that be was an intimate
friend of the Winkley family; had been
their attorney for several years; that
he would see Mrs. Davis and her
mother MRS. Winkley), and if they said
so he would proceed with the cause.
Capt Davis, finding that he had fallen
into bad hands, proposed to Messrs.
Givan 4 Haynes TO get the matter
through by paying $1,000, but they both
rejected the proposition with scorn, and
informed him that no divorce could 60
through that Court unless Mrs. Davis
No desired it, M
Capt. Davis then abandoned the Dear.
born Common Pleas Court About this
time he wrote to Miss Howes MRS Davis
No. p that he had got his divorce all
right, and for her to come to this city,
for she came as fast as railroads and
steamboats, could carry her, and stopped
with her devoted on John street. She
arrived about the 10th of August, and it
is supposed that the parties were glad TO
meet each other after their long separa-
ton, particularly as Mrs Davis No 2
believed the convenient divorce laws of
Indiana had got rid of Mrs. Davis No. |,
and had given her clear title to her
Captain. Mr. Moss and his family re.
naming in blissful ignorance OF the
affair, received Mrs Davis No. 2 with
great pleasure. But happiness in this
world is brief, and the young couple re.
ceived letter from Mr. Lewis Howes,
the paternal ancestor Of No. 2, desiring
something tangible in the shape of d.
vorce. This thing worried the Captain
very much; but he told Mrs. Davis No
2 that he would get her copy of the
record of his divorce from Mrs. Davis
No. |. A short time after he left, saying
that he was going to Lawrenceburg, In
diana, to get the record, He returned
about midnight, and showed to Mrs. Davis
No. 2 full and complete record of
cause, wherein Mrs. Davis No. bad
obtained divorce, duly certified by j. +.
Cheek, clerk, and the seal of the Court
attached. This certificate and seal were
undoubtedly base forgery, as there is
nothing upon the records of the court
warranting it, and the high standing of
Colonel Cheek, the Clerk, would pre-
cluie the possibility Of Davis getting
such n thing in the regular way. This
document was sent to Mr. Lewis Howes,
1.-THE father of Mrs. Davis No. p, at
Memphis, and seemed to be satisfactory
to him. Mrs. Davis No. /, hearing that
Captain Davis was here in the city with
No. 2, came to town, and employed the
Messrs. Galley to look after the matter,
Upon inquiry they, on the 26th of
August, took out n warrant in the Police
Court against Capt. Davis for adultery,
and few days after he was arrested at
an establishment on Walnut street, near
Fourth, of which he was book.keeper.
Captain Davis persuaded Mr.. Stephens,
a friend Of his, to go upon his bond as
bail. When the case was called, Captain
Davis was not to be found. He had run
off and left both Mrs Davis No. and
No. 2, to do the best they could, and
leaving his bondsman, Mr.. Stephens, to
pay the bill
A short time after Captain Davis de-
parted, another wife of his turned up
from near Vicksburg, Mississippi She
says that she was married to him in 1864,
by chaplain in the Union army, and
having in her arms a boy, the fruit the
marriage.
Nothing further was heard Of Davis
after his departure from the city, and the
case, after being continued from time to
time by Judge Straub, in the police
court, was dropped, the bail bond of
1880 being forfeited.
Captain Davis may probably 90 into
The marrying business again, and we