The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-11-26
BURNING OF THE STONEWALL
Aa Unpublished Chapter of the Nissis-
sippi Horror.
From the Louisville Journai.1 !

sippi Horror.
c From the Louisville Journail
5 \ coGte-de-riyi,r was taken from trunk c
ladies' clothing 10 represented rather flesh
= iady; dark brown halF done up in braias am
: hanging low ON the neck the collar was whit
and narrow, and a breastpIn; right hand rest
J, ing on table, and riding gloves ON earrings
:, forehead high and features regular. Conld
| nave boon the late lamented Mrs. Emmi
/ Fitch, No. /, 5i6 Broadway.-H LOuis DemOcTd
, lTslIOH of the H0re,ctH disaster.
, Mrs. Emma Fitch WAS among the
lost, but this was ali there was tha
told of the unhappy fate of this sin
gular woman. She is well known il
Louisville, and her history is familiar
20 many persons in this city. Ii VT
nave been correctly informed, Mrs
Fitch, IS she called herself, was the
daughter OF respectable citizen OF
Louisville, now dead her maiden
name was Serena Talbot. When .
girl, her parents almost idolized her
and when, as she was budding into
wOmanhOod, she became the wife oi
one OF our wealthieSt business men,
1t seemed to her doting tather thai
his darling child was being torn from
aim forever. Petted and spoiled
though she was, and more a doll than
Il wife, the husband loved her, and
did all in his power To promote her
happiness. lie purchased a farm
near The city anu the young vile
drove from her beautiful country
residence whenever she had desire
20 visit her parents. A foOtmaD, and
all the modern magniiiceDce calcu-
lated 10 inspire pedestrian awe, &C
companied the carriage, and many
an envious eye turned That way when
ever her shiInmering chariot wheels
sounded their genteel coming behind
Two spanking bays--or grays, they
may have been. She came 10 the
city often, and, although she seemed
the happiest OF wives, her father
since her marriage, had been one OF
the unhappiest of men, and it was
not long before her parents were
urging her to abandon her husband
and return to her old home. Strange
10 say, they at last succeeded in per
suading her to return, and to the
infinite establishment OF her husband,
he was obliged to give her up
In order TO be entirely tree from
him, the capricious Serena went away
to Washington, where size remained
six months in order to obtain a di-
vuice. She waited in vain at the
capital, for the divorce was refused.
Next she made pilgrimage to Indi-
ana, where the divorce was finally
granted, and, thus healed of matri-
mony, she came home.
The divorced wife, in the course of
time, fell a victim to second love,
and married an actor by the name of
Swift. Swift, the story goes, was a
fast man, but strutted his brief hour
in this locality to some advantage
The fair Serena, as Mrs. Swift, soon
developed into an actress, but on
making her debut was Kissed from the
sta4e, and her theatrical career then
and there saw the beginning of its
end. Her dramatic associations ru-
iBed her, and in the course of time
she became separated from her see
ond husband, from whom she was
finally divorced. Her father, it is
said, died of broken heart after her
second marriage.
Next she hecame notorious as the
paramour of Major Fitch, a Michigan
officer. who was for some time Pro-
vost Marshal at this point. He was
a married man, his wife and a sweet
little girl child residing at Kslama.
zoo, one OF the most beautiful of the
cities OF Michigan, and where he had
entered the Federal service.
His letters home, where his poor
wife was praying for his safe return,
indicated nothing of what was trans
piring iu Louisville, and though they
began TO come less frequently, she
accepted all his excuses, aud never
once suspected the man she would
gladly have died for. Finally he
ceased writing altogether, and for
months no tidings reached her save
the mere mention of him that came
in occasional letters from some
brother officer. Determined to learn |
the worst, she set out from Kalama
zoo in company with the father of
the Major and her little daughter, and
came To Louisville. Here the terri
bic truth was revealed to her. The
actress had abandoned the stage, ,and
was living in open adultery with
Major . Nor was this all
EVIL companions and the dram shops
had worked a wonderful change in
the once sober, clear-headed officer,
and the heart-broken wife was ap-
palled at the ruin that had been
wrought in one she believed above
She implOred him 10 return with
her ana abandon the life he was lead
ing, but all her supplication, and the
appeals of his old father proved un-
ayailing. He was lost forever. As
a last resort, she went TO the woman
who had robbed her OF all she held
dear, and on her knees, begged the
base harlot to release her husband, |
to give him back 10 her for the sake
Of her darling child, and for the sake
Of the old father whose head was
bowed in shame and disgrace. The
only answer of the vile woman was o
peremptOry order 10 leave the house
Finding all efforts fruitless, the
lady decided to return
home, and the said trio went back to
Michigan. There she soon became
an inmate OF the mad-house, and
shortly after died 8 raving maniac.
The story of Serena's career it st.
Louis, so far as it is known here, is
soon told. Fitch went to that city
in his retiracy, but we believe, had
little more to do with her. He prov
ed himself fit for nothing, and even
lost situation as driver of q street
car, so utterly worthless had he be
come "Mrs. Fitch got aboard the
steamer Stonewall, at st. Louis, in
with a female friend, in
tending to go to New Orleans, and
both she and her companion were
lost in the terrible disaster at Neel-
ey's Landing. How they died,
whether by fire or flood, may never
be known
Two brothers of Gen. Steele have
a dairy south of San Francisco
They own 800 COWS and $4,000