Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-10-20

A Strange StOry-A Pickle Woman =
Sad Experience and Sore Repen 4
ance.
From the St. Louis Republican,
A few days ago there passed st. Louis
ward from Council Bluffs, Iowa, man
and woman, the latter of whom was for
merly resident of this city, and the
daughter of wealthy and wellto do
merchant. Aud if all the statements re-
gsrding the affair are true, it is another
| illustration of the old adage that truth
is often stranger than fiction" In this
woman career of the past ten years is
wrapped up more Of the vicissitudes of
life than would make first class novel.
Hsggard and psle--the merest wreck of
a former beauty-she was returning to
the home of her you.h-lashed into de-
spair and tortured with remorse. The
gentleman accompanying her is prema-
turely old-the ravages of sorrow and q
troubled heart stamped upon every fea-
ture. But the story, as told by the Coun-
Gil Bluffs (Iowa) NonparieI, is as follows I:
About ten years ago the hand OF q
young lady, whose father had passed be-
.yond the stage of mere competence In
point of worldly substance, in the city of
St. Louis, was sought by merchant.
Pressing his suit for some time, he was
finally accepted by the parents, and
being gentleman of meaus, the mar
riage took place with considerable eclat
and display. On his part he was in
earnest, and was an affectionate suitor;
but by the parents of the young lady it
was degraded to the degree of q marriage
la mode. Their own establishment
was set up, and the hsndsomest and most
elegant of appointments provided for a
luxurious and wealthy home; bat it
lacked the very essential that will make
palace OF cot. One of the clerks in the
store of the young woman's father was
the wolf which beset that household.
Between him and her there had been
clandestine courtship, and he was 10th,
when the prize was carried away, to sur
render the hand of the woman whose
heart he already possessed. The kind Of
life the married couple led will not bear
repeating. The husband tried every ex-
pedient to win the woman, who always re-
garded him with esteem, but never with
affection. One morning he found his home
deserted by his wife, and note telling him
not to pursue her, that it would be hope
less task. He Immediately communicated
with the father of his wife, and to his utter
astonishment found that the Jfdes achates,
the con fidehtisi clerk Of his bfother-iH-
law, had also absconded, taking with him
a sum of money, but not enough to en-
danger the interests and prospects Of the
Nf hn
only to those in such entanglements, the
whole transaction was concealed from the
public. The husband, wearied out by the
absence of the woman, finally obtained
divorce on the ground of desertion. He
married again, and with his second wife
lived happily. Last summer she died,
leaving motherless boy and girl-both
interesting, sprightly children. The tru-
ant woman (this part of the story we
have from her own lips) panied her
paramour and lover to the Plains The
first year they spent at Central City and
other mining points in Colorado, the
lover, with bis small capital flched from
his employers safe, and his knowledge
of business, being able to do some
mining trade and to make some money.
1nenC6 tney went 10 Dhlt bhht Oiiy
and into Southern Utah, and finally
drfted with the tide of adventure to the
mines of Nevada. No tidings of their
whereabouts and mesnderngs ever
reached the ears of her heart-broken
parents and stricken husband, At last
ill.fortune befell them. He grew sick
and their accumulations gradually wasted
away. The States began to have more
attractions than heretofore, and they
drifted eastward. The lover, who, in the
loose civilization of the frontier, regarded
himself as the lawful husband, estab-
lished boarding house on the Central
Pac 6c railroad. Here he died. Alone
in the world, the woman came back, and
when she landed in Council Bluffs was
utterly penniless. Repentant, only as
woman can be repentart, even TO de-
spair, she wrote to her father, but both
being dead the letter fell iato the hands
of the executor, who showed it TO the
bereft husband. The latter came here as
speedily as possible, and met hia long
lost and trusnt wife.