Des Arc weekly citizen., 1868-12-22
From the Cleveland Herald. Nov. 2sth.1
 A Faithful wife.

| in this city on' Friday. The stor
 certainly has the imprint of the roman tic more than the reality, and border Ec;ose upon yhe inlAginative; yet tn
 manner in which the facts were told b
 the two interested parties cicars tn mind Of all d0ubf and seems to stam
 il with truth. The circnmstances, a irelated to us, are substantially as fol lIows:
 In the beginning Of 1S40. Henry Lei l fingwell was q well-to-d0 lnerclmni
 living near the suburbs Of London England. Msthe mouth of March Q that year, . larceny WAS committed near. his residence. undscivcumstance
 pointed tp lihm as the pefpetrator. II, was sasseste,ly examined before one Q the stipendiary magistrates. and full! kcomniitted for trial. A inofitl, later, h, was convicted and sentenced to hart labor in the penal colony of Australia for a period of ten years; and in lesi than q week's time thereafter, he wal on his way 10 the laroH land. His de voted wife, who all the time firmly be lieved in her husband's innocence, al once made preparat ions to follow and remain near hini .during his eOnfine' ment, so that she might be the first, when his tickct-0t-leave came, to cheei him with good couiisel and comfort him wift wffeiy love.
 The ship containing the convicts ar- rived sate, and her cafgoOf living shu. nan beings was at once transferred to the government workhouses. Not so, however. the ship upon which Mrs. | r,tfr halt way upon irer jourrey fhe vessel encountered fearful storm. and, after buffcting the waves for two days, foun- dered and went down, the crew and Mrs. Letiingwell barely escaping upon a raft hastily constructld when it was found thatt the ship could not be saved. Alter an exposure of several days they were picked up by the American ship North Wind, bound from New York to China, where Mrs. Leflingwel was at length landed, only to find herself farther than ever from her destination, and with no immediate prospect ot reaching it. After several months of patient watching and waiting. she was emabIed. through the kind offices of the American Consul, then residing at Yeddo. 10 procure passage to Cuba. whence inc prospec, of reaching Aus tralia would be much improved. Pass ing over space oi a year and half, in which Mrs. Lefiingwell passed through many scenes calculated to try frner resolutions than hers. but through which she clung to her resolve withtrue English obstnacy. she finally found lierselfon the shores of Austra- .l the exact locality oi' her husband s whereabouts as she would be of a Hecdle for which she was hunting in hay now.
 She persevered, however, but four long years passed away before she was enabled to obidin the slightest trace oi her husband. from the fact that when once landed rom the ship each convict received number. Uy which he is only known to the keepers. Mrs. Letfinwell knew not her husbands number, and when she made inquiries she WIS al- ways baff1ed with the question: His number, ma am 7" At tho end Of the time spoken of. during which her means had become exhausted, and she had been compelled to resort to mcniai labor, she one day picked up a Sidney paper, in which was an account Of her husbands release. the real criminal of the larceny having been found and cx- ported. The account gave her hus- bands number and the facts which convicted him in so precise manner that she could not long doubt as to who was meant. Her course was marked out at once. Gong to the prison authorities of Sidney, she at length learned that ..tieket of leave maa No. lS6," her husbands number had left the island for the United States of America two weeks after his release. The next thing for her to do was to follow him. Scraping together her scanty means, she found she possessed barely means to pay her pass. age. She seized upon her first oppor- unity presented, and in June, lS47, she found herself once more upon the ocean, bound for the land of the free, with her mission still unaccomplished.
 In due time she arrived in New York city, where she remained until the civil war broke out. not having in the meantime heard one word Of her husband, though she had made cver,- exertion to find his whereabouts. When the war broke out, and at the first call for nurses in the hospitals, she responded. and. until peace was de- cared. there were none more faithful iu the care of our wounded than Mrs. Clara Leffingwell. While in one of the hospitals at Washington. she nurscd to life and strength q man who knew her husband in the army, who had been his niessnlate and boon compan ion, and who, in his delirium, con- stantIy called his comrade to come to his assistance. When the crisis was passed. and it was known that the sol- ttier would live, she questioned him concerning her husband. and ascer- taned that he was. in . Pennsylvania regiment. having enlisted from Pitts. burg two years before. She at once addressed Leffingwell letter, stating in full her efforts to find him, and de- tsiling nt length her disappointments and troubles. With the usual pervcr- sity of army malls, that letter never reached it's destination. Mrs. Leffiing- well waited and watched, but still no answer came, and at length, when the war was over. she set out once more In search of her husband.
 X visit to Pittsburg revealed the iacl that her husbands term of enlistment had expired long before, and thus iden- tity was once more lost. She inserted advertisements in a number of Penn. sylvania papers. calling for rinformation of his whereabouts. and then sat her. self again to watch and wait. Time crept slowly on. and still no tidings of her absent one.
 A week ago. when she had given uI all hope Of ever seeing her husband again, she very unexpectedly received direct information of his place of abode from one who came across the adver' tisement of three years before. The paper containing it had, very providen tially, escaped the destruction whict usually comes upon the dailies of thu