Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1869-12-09

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sition in reference, to the assailant
and to Mrs. Mcfarland:
BI'FARLAND SHOOTING AFFRAY OF '67.
CARD FROM BTR. RICHARDSON.
A statement has just appeared from
Mcfarland, who attempted to ass as
sinate me two years ago. He alleges
that he was "a temperate, kind-heart-
ed, good man, and a kind, affection
ate and generous husband; but that
reduced the affections of his wife,
from him, and "enticed her fIOm his
home"
Both allegations against me are ut
terly and prepOsterOusly false. These
are the facts: /. With the full sane
ton of her family and friends, Mrs.
Mcfarland left her husband, charging
him with gross cruelty during his
proxysms Contemporaries; with neg
lect to support her, and livinl upon
and sometimes squandering her own
/ hard won earnings. The charge of
ill-treatement did nOtrest solely upon
her statements, but stood, and yet
stands, explicitly admitted in his own
| handwriting, and over his own sig
nature, long before I knew either of
them. That will appear in due time,
before the proper tribunal. At their
last interview, in presence of several
witnesses, she distinctly announced
that the separation was final and ire
vOeable, and he as distinctly acquies-
ced. 2 After this final and formal
separation, and while she was begin
ming life anew, with two little chill
dren dependent upon her, it came to
be understood between her and myself
| that whenever she should be legally
| free, she was to become my wife.
Several of my friends and several of
hers wereacquainted with the fact 3.
About three weeks after the separation
McFarlend intercepted a letter from
me to her-such q letter as one would
naturally write to the woman he eX-
pected to marry. Mcfarland claimed
that it "frenzied him." but there was
method, not to say deliberatiOn about
| his ''frenzy." Instead of meeting me
face to face, he kept this letter in his
| pocket three days, and finally, at II
O'Clock, on a dark rainy night, crept
up behind me on the street, and with
his revolver within fourteen inches of
my back, began to shoot. Before he
could fire the fourth shot, l succeeded
| in throwing him to the ground, where
| I held him until the police came up
and secured him. One ball only took
effect, keeping me in bed for a week.
I refrained from prosecuting him
| partly because I knew I had been
rash, but chiefly to hold the lady's
name from from an additional and un-
avoidable publicity. 4. For weeks
and months after this, he earnestly
sought to induce her to return to her
"kind and affectiOnate husband" +"
Finding this hopeless, he seems since
to have devoted himself chiefly to SLAM
dering her, and reading an alleged
copy of my letter, with many dramat-
ic accomplishments, to every acquain-
tance, or stranger, who viii listen to
it. Sometimes he ends his tale:
"And now after all / don't believe the
scoundrel will ever marry herr But
his common peroration is that if /
ever do, he will kill me "On sight. :"
Finally he has brought suit against
me for civil damages, rating the mon
ey value Of his wounded affections at
S45, 600! That, at least, ought to prove
some equivalent for being deprived of
the "affectiOnate" privilege Of stIik-
ing a helpless woman in the face, or
! terrifying her with brandished knife
and baffied in the temperate act of
stealing up in the dark behind an un-
armed man and shooting him in the
back
Whatever the intercepted letter
really contains, he would better print
it, and save himself the trouble of
many future readings and declaim-
ings. l wrote it but for one person;
yet did write it, and 1 propose to
stand by it. Whatever fault there is
in holding such an attitude, toward q
lady who had recently been separated
from her husband was solely mine,
and 1 shall not try to palliate it.
Whatever sum twelve unbiased men
may determine that / owe this good"
and temperate" antagonist, will
with elacrity pay it, if it comes with
in myhOnest means. And, finally,
whatever violence he may threaten
or attempt, should the lady ever be
legally free during my lifetime, she
will certainly become my wife, if she
will accept so poor a man as /.
ALBERT ID. RICHARDSON,
New York, March y, 1869.
Since that time Mcfarland has been
heard to threaten that when the Op-
pOrtunity offered be would kill Mr..
Richardson: but within the past year
both before and since his trip to the
the west, he has often came in contact
with Mr.. Mcfarland, who has never
once in his presence manifested the
slightest desire to injure or mOlesthim. !
Six weeks ago, Mrs. Mcfarland
through her counsel, the Hon. A. G.. |
Porter, of Indiana-succeeded in get |
ting 8 divorce. Mrs. Mcfarland and |
several witnesses were present at the |
trial: but MT. Richardson was at that |
time on the plains west Of the Mississ- |
ippi, with Cyrus w. Fields buffalo |
hunting party Nor has he, so far as
is known, seen Mrs. Mcfarland since. |
She has been living at the west ever
since the affair in 1867; and has Fefus- |
ed to have any communication what |
ever with Mr.. Mcfarland
At O'Clock this morning BIr. Rich |
ardsOn was still in a very critical con-
ditiOn, but his physicians, Drs. Sayer !
and Swan, entertain strong hopes of !
his recovery.
M'FARLAND IN THE STA TIoN HOUSE.
A representative of tha Tribune
called on Mr.. Mcfarland last night, |
ut the Fourth Ward Station-ho1se,
where he saw him comfortably quar- !
tered, in Capt. Allaire's private room.
The only person present was a police
man detailed to watch the prisoner. /
Mcfarland was smoking and seemed !
calm and uncOncerned. He was in
disposed to converse about the shoot
ing or the circumstances attending it. |
and remarked that the whole affair !
seemed like q dream, and that he was
very much confused at the time. /
When asked if there was any addition |
al prOvOcatiOn for the deed beyond /
that which had been madepublic at !
his shooting Mr.. Richardson in March |
1867, he answered that he had Just |
been informed that Mr.. Richardson |
had procured for his wife a fraudulent |
divorce somewhere i'll the State of
Illinois, and that he (Richardson) had /
been married to her. Not having the |