Weekly Calaveras chronicle., 1868-11-07
A sYREN's VICTIM.
BY A DETECTIVE.

81 can tell you an event Which, al
though it did not come within the
sphere of my own business relations, yet
it was within my personal observation,
and for the correctness of which | can
vouch..' said MIR. - as the reporter
seated himself to hear some incident
connected with his experience as de-
tective.
GA young Kentuckian had come to
the city in the Winter of lS5-, as ma :
ny do, purely for pleasure. Of great
wealth, and by no means careful of his
associates, he soon plunged into ca
reer of dissipation, which speedily fit
ted him to become the victim of one of
the mos, remarkable women of the age.
This person was the wife of a noted
gambler. She had apartments at the
most fashionable hotel, and as decoy
to her profigate and unscrupulous con-
sort. She was Spanish Creole, and
possessed every fascinating trait which
have SO distinguished women of her race.
But, added to the exquisite beauty of
her person, she possessed an educated
mind, and was in reality fitted to adorn
any sphere in society.
Always dressed in robes that ever
enhanced her rich tropical beauty, easy
of access and to the uninitiated and sus-
ceptible youth upon whom she lavished
every bewildering charm Of manner and
address, it is not surprising she soon
became a creature at whose shrine both
heart and sense were freely surrender
ed. lie accompanied her to the thea
tre, balls and parties, aud as the infu-
ence of her ar;fully woven meshes be-
came each day stronger, and he less ca
pable of resisting them, she gradually
drew him within the pale of husband s
evil designs. Her elegantly appointed
paror became the theatre of little card
parties, at which costly wines and the
Establishments of female beauty formed
a combina ion of attraction which his
blinded perceptions could not resist
Step BY step he was led along the road
to ruin.
He never saw his peril, or, if he did,
it was discerned only to be forgotten in
the smile of his dark eyed encbantress
Vast sums had now swollen from the
pittances hazarded at first. His own
means had been exhausted his friends
had been appealed to until they would
loan no longer; still unmindful of bis
perilous career, criminal step was ta
ken, and forged draft supplied him
with the means he could not otherwise
procure. Another and another follow
ed, until the vast sums he had squan.
dered had absorbed every dollar of bis
inheritance. And now .e awoke from
his dream of passion to realize the hope
lessness Of his condition. Bankrupt
and criminal, single flower fingered
the memory of wrecked life and fortune
-one ray only of happiness was left
him as he brooded Oh his sin, and tha,
was the love of the beautiful woman
who had ruined him. To him she had
become as Elvira to Lamartine, the He
loise of A Abelard, and now in the cleft
of his torn heart he cherished her as a
beautiful flower in sweet memorial of a
happier time. He knew she had ruin.
ed him he knew tina. the beautiful
casket shrined no jewel of purity; but
he knew that he loved, despite her
crimes and his own
Flight was still left him the magma
nimity of his friends and creditors had
left him this. From the consequences
of his crimes and the scorn Of his friends
he perceived the necessity of this last
alternative of the criminal and wretch.
ed outcast of society. But before he
went he solicited an interview with the
woman he had looked upon as an angel
and worshiped her as such. What o SIS
ed at that interview was never known
or never will be. He had been in her
presence perhaps an hour, when the
scream of woman in deadly frigh,
echoed through the house, followed by
the report of a pistol. The startled
servants rushed to the apartment, but
recoiied in horror. In the centre of the
room, bullet through his brain, lay
the dead body of the young Kentucki
an-a suicide ; beside him, rigid and
pale as death, stood the woman hut
the light Of reason had fed from her
eyes; just retribution had paralyzed
her mind. The spell Of her dark en-
chantment was loosed, and none after
ward traced their ruin to the gambler S
maniac wife.-Neso Orleans Picayune-