The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-01-26

Extfoef4l4afyI pt1NNe4 ieLtsa6
naouial Riddle.
From the Nashville Bsnney January Isl
Onr Edreneld neighbors have recently
been favored With q sensation not leSe racy
fhan startlipr. IN the shape Of nothing less
than q double slopefneut. inc cireum-
stances are ns follows: Eel oisiS jidt ieGt
!; For some two or three months paaso
family named Riddle, from East Tennes-
see, have been living at Hickss OLD DICK
ward. In Lower Edgefield. The family con-
sisted of Mr.. Riddle, his wife, q little son
of Mrs. Riddle by former marriage, ana
q young lady whose name we we're not soie
to ascertain, Here comes in the neyitaole
Young gentleman. His name was Harris,
and his visits were frequent. Having es-
tablished a close intimacy with the Riddles.
he introduced into their Eden q "sarpint
named John Lambert. John was sixty-nve'
and. as the denoument proved, seductive.
last Sunday week Harris and Lamoert
vent 10 Riddles house In company IneE
errand was q sinister one. They went 70
tear Mrs. Riddle from the embrace OF her
unsuspectinC husband and SO the latter
was informed by Lambert. Riddle snicK.
cred at Me idea-'twas good joke. pun
when he noticed the firm compression OF
Lambert's lip and the ominous giitter Q!
HAIRLESS eye-when Lambert groWled out
from, between his teeth, in the most ap,
nroyed melo- dramatic style, that they mao
Come for Mrs. Riddle, and were going 10
have her, and that If he made any resist
apoe they would "decapitate = HIM IN the
shake of a sleeps tail-Riddle realized
the intensity of the crisis, and sprang to
tho bed for his pistol. The charges had
been drawn. There was /" traitor in the
camp Riddle was betrayed. At this
iuncture, Harris. who was heavy on the
muscle, seized and tied him fast. Forth
came the recreant wife and undid him
with four brief words "It is too
true" With imperturbable calmness,
and a grim sort of smile, as ifGshe were
paying of old scores, she proceeded
to revelations, which filed the soul
of Riddle with any amount Of uncom-
Portable emotion. In the first place, ar
rangenients for the elopement had been
Systematically concluded. She was bound
to 60 with Lambert, and the young lady
name unkHowH) was bound to go with
Harris. The affection was certainly a
nhard one +" for the old man, but she con-
sidsrately hoped he would grin and bear it.
Lambert had given her something to make
her love him-some sweet, oblivious anti
dote-and that was the long and short of it.
She had in fact been a perfect stranger to
love until she met Lambert, and it would
be very ungenerous of Riddle to stand in
the way Of her happiness. The least he
could do for all concerned was to let her
depart in peace. nc
Strange to say, this singular plea " set
Riddle" as our informant states, "to
thinking" Such an aggregation of do
nestle calamity at such short notice para
lyzed as it were his powers of action. So
he took seat, utterly subdued, and while
he was cropping in his mind for relief from
this great sorrow of his life, morning came,
and with it the express wagon which was
to bear away Mrs. Riddle and her luggage.
Riddle aroused himself; he made last
appeal to his levanting better-half, without
avail. Lambert's love potion was still in
successful operation" Seating herself
on an ancient cedar chest-the gift of her
first husband-she waived adieu with a
yellow bandana pocket handkerchief until
lost to the tear-dimmed vision of her de.
serted husband.
At last accounts Mrs. Riddle, Lambert
Harris, and the "young lady" had EN-.
barked for Cairo, en- route, as is supposed
for Missouri, where brother. of Mrs. Rid.
die resides. a.H5 . ~.
Lambert is between sixty and sixty-fve
years of age, and formerly lived near Eli.
zabethtown, KY, but for the last three oil
four years has been in the employ of Mr.
Kramer, in Edgefield. lie left behind him
wife, who is old and afflicted, beside!
several children and, we are informed
grandchildren.
That husbands are false and that women ar,
frail, III. .u.. ... u.
Or that men with each others wives NEEDLE
Is truth we'll admit-though the wife in thi
tale FL. .m..
Is an incomprehensible Riddle.