Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-03-21
IN SEARCH OF A FATHER.
A Love History and a Curious Predica.
ment-A Child with bat One Parent.
From the Chicago Tribune, Feb, lol

she became acquainted with Judson P.
Esmay, q man Of about twenty-four
summers, then in the employ of Walker
l. Bro, Nos. 81 and SO West Washing
ton-next door to the place where the
blooming widow resided. She used to
watch for his appearance, and walk
away with him after the labors of the
day were closed, and he, in return,
would wait on her-to some of the places
Of amusement which abound in our city.
They used occasionally to 60 elsewhere,
to places where no prying eye could
watch them, or ear listen to the tales Of
love and mutual plightings Of n and
the pair. So swiftly the course of true
love run that within seven weeks from
the time she first saw him she was un-
der engagement to board with him, and
thus avoid the trouble Of walking about
the streets in order to enjoy each others
society. The wedding was arranged to
take place in July, and the widow COM
menced her multifarious preparations
for the happy event.
Alas for human felicity. The wedding
was first delayed; then abandoned.
Esmay told the lady that he could not
marry her, as he was unable to support
a wife. This plea was accepted as valid,
though the lover claimed to be an in
valid, and the acquaintance continued,
she, perhaps, hoping that the difficulty
would be removed, and that their two
hearts could yet beat as one. Perhaps
this was the motive, though there are
some who think that Esmay was only
waiting for an opportunity to get rid Of
her, and that she in like n was
looking round for a reason to part COM
pany from the being she loved too well,
if not wisely. The end at last came, or
rather the end of that section, for in a
subsequent chapter the loves were again
taken up and the results chronicled.
Some time in November, q young man
named Mattigan, or Maddigan, q fellow
workman with Esmay, saw the widow
and fell madly in love. Two or three
weeks suficed in this case also to bring
into existence the full ledged cherub
which points to the hymeneal altar, and
in this case without disappointment in
the premises, though the disappointment
was severe enough in the sequel. They
were married on the first Of December,
and the new couple moved to Dixon,
Lee county, to reside. All went hap
PLY for a few weeks, the two were bles-
sed in each others love, when the de-
stroying angel lowered round the pair
and the union was dissolved in an i'm
promptu manner
The rude hand which sundered the
happy pair was none other than that of
the rightful Mrs. Maddigan, who had
come on from the East, and then first
found that her lord was a bigamist.
Like Don Caesar, the last consideration
decided him: He departed at once and
left the true and pseudo Mrs. Maddigan
to settle the little difficulty. The for
mer triumphed, and Mrs. Maddigan
number two left the fortress in posses
sion ofthe enemy, came back to Chicago,
and called on her old flame. He was
not unwilling to renew the acquaint-
ance, and the two were once more on
friendly terms.
Blu, Esmay still did not want to marry
her. When asked to do so, he fatty
refused.
Mrs. Evans, since Mrs. Maddigan,
would-be Mrs. Esmay, was in a straight
way. She was in a queer way, in an
awkward way, also in another way
which 1t is not necessary to describe
more plainly than to say that it was the
result of one Of her alliances-we know
not which-others doubted. And here
was the bone of contention. She tried
to convince Esmay that he was a father,
if not q husband. He failed to see it,
and pointed to Maddigan, who, having
been a reputed husband, was the most
proper mar to pitch on as the putative
father. She thought that perhaps JUS
tice Sits would look at the case from
her point of view, and cited Esmay to
appear before him.
But the Esmay did not believe in Sits
justice, fearing perhaps that it had
something in common with a sitz bath
mot particularly agreeable in cold
weather. He took a change Of venue
before Justice Stu~rtevant, by whom it
was decided that as the complainant had
voluntarily married Maddigan she had
debarred herself from the power to sue
Esmay for the support Of her child. To
the objection that Maddigan is not and
never was, her husband, the court held
that he had nothing to do with it. She
had married Maddigan in good faith,
and by that act had left Esmay free.
The position in which the mother is
left by this decision, is q peculiar one.
Maddigan is not her husband, and there
fore not the adopting father. Esmay is
not allowed to assume TIL privileges Of
spanking and paying which have per-
tanned to the paternal Office from time
immemorial. In other words, the child
has no father, and in future years may
rove the world over with worse prospect
of finding him than had Japhet himself.
People have grown into the belief, since
the age of miracles passed away, that a
child must have a father as well as a
mother. 1t seems that as DR.. johnson
said to the rumseller who urged in ex-
tenuation of his conduct, that he must
live-''there is no occasion for it," Let
us hope that the case will not be taken
as a precedent, or as Aminidab Sleek
might say-all sorts Of babies may be
born, of all sorts of mothers, in all sorts
of ways, without fathers.
The mother is to be pitied; the child
to be cornmiserated; the father to be
found. The only chance we see for her
is to get married to some one else, and