The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-11-26

n
afternoon, Mr.. Albert d. Richardson, an old and
valued dttdche of the Tribune, well known to
the country as one of the war correspondents of
the paper during the Rebellion, and MS the au-
thor of Beyond the Mississippi" and other
works, was fred upon and shot in the Office of
the Tribune by Daniel Mcfarland. Mr.. McFar-
land, it appears, had been in the Office about an
hour before Mr.. Richardson's arrival, and seemed
to have known that the latter would call at or
about five o'clock. At the time of Mr.. Richard
sons entrance into the room Mcfarland was
anding behind the desk opposite the right hand
door opening on Nassau ST., and was therefore
: concealed from view. Mr.. Richardson, entirely
unconscious of the danger impending over him,
and ignorant of the presence of Mcfarland, adj
vanced to the lower end of the counter, and
asked for his letters Between him and McFar-
land, and outside the counter, gentleman was
reading the paper, searching the pages of the
Directory. AS Mr.. Richardson leaned over to-
wards the desk of the advertising clerk, McFar-
land rushed from his hiding place, raised his
pistol, and aiming directly over the head of the
stranger at Mr.. Richardson, fired. The ball en-
tered the body of the victim at point midway
men, and lodged in the stomach. The
wounded man turned, and for the first time
saw his assaiant. Without speaking word he
walked to the Spruce street door, thence into
the street, and up four flights of stairs to the
editorial rooms, where he quietly lay down upon
sofa called gentleman to him, remarked that
he was badly wounded, and asked to have
surgeon sent for at once: In few minutes a
moved to the Astor House. So apparently un-
moved was he ON leaving the publication room,
that the fact of his being wounded was not known
TO the clerks until the arrival of the sur
geon. In the meantime Mcfarland had es-
capped. Detectives were put upon his track, and
at 10 o'clock he was arrested at the corner of
Irving place and Sixteenth street by Captain
Allaire, of the Fourth precinct and Detective
4 Finn, who at once carried their prisoner to the
l room of the wounded man, at the Astor House.
! On being asked whether the prisoner was the
| man who shot him, Mr. Richardson answered
! quietly in the affirmative, and Mcfarland was
then taken TO the Fourth Precinct Station House
and locked up.
I The trouble which led to this unfortunate oc-
4 csrrence dates back to the spring of 1861 when
Mr., Richardson occupied rooms in the same
house in which Mrs. Mcfarland, wife of Daniel
Mcfarland, was a boarder The lady was
member of a theatrical company, and was at
this time living on bad terms with her husband.
Mr. Richardson frequently escorted Mrs.
Mcfarland home from the theatre in which she
was employed and this fact, coupled with the
desire of his wife to be separated from him, in
furated Mcfarland. On the evening of the 18th
OF March, 1867, as Mr.. Richardson and Mrs.
Mcfarland were returning to the boarding
house. they were met by Mcfarland, who, with
out word of warning, drew pistol and fired,
the shot taking effect in Mr.: Richardson's thigh.
The affair created some excitement at the time,
but as the wound did not prove fatal, and as it
was not deemed advisable to give the matter
more publicity, the assassin was not molested.
Mcfarland asked for an insertion of his version
y of the difficulty in the Tribune. The request
was granted. Mr.. Richardson, few days later
published in reply the following card which we
reproduce as containing succinct statement of
his position in reference to the assaiant and to
Mrs. McFarand:-
The NpFarInnd shooting Affair of ls67-Card
A statement has just appeared from Mcfarland,
who attempted to assassinate me two years ago. He
alleges that he was temperate, kind-hearted, good
m
band" but that ''seduced the affections or his wife"
from him, 'tand enticed her from his home" Both
allegations against me utterly and preposterous-
ly false. These are the facts:-
/. With full sanction OF her family and friends
Mrs Mcfarland left her husband, charging him with
gross cruelty during his paroxysms of intempe-
rance; with negecting to support her, and with
hsrdswon earnings The charge OF ill-treatment did
not rest solely upon her statement, but stood, and
yet stands explicitly admitted in his own hand
writing and over his own signature, long before 1
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
nOunced that the separation was hnal and irrevoca
bic, and he as distinctly acquiesced.
O. After this formal and final separation, and
while she was beginning life anew, with two little
children dependent upon her, It cam came to be under
should be legally free she was to become my wife.
Several OF my friends and some OF hers were fully
acquainted with the fact
O. About three weeks after the separation McFar-
land intercepted letter from me to her-such a
letter as one would naturally write TO the woman he
expected to marry. Mcfarland claims that 1t "fren-
ziedr him, but there was method not to say debe-
ration, in his ''frenzy."
Instead of seeking me face to face, he kept this
letter In his pocket for three days. and finally at IL
O'Clock on dark rainy night, crept up behind me in
the street, and with his revolver within fourteen
inches OF my back began to shoot Before he could
ground, where held him till the police came up and
secured him. One ball only took effect, keeping me
In bed for a week. ! refrained from prosecuting
him, partly because | knew | had been rash, but
chiefly TO withhold the adys name from any addi-
tional and avoidable publicity.
4 4. For weeks and months after this he earnestly
N sought 10 induce her to return to her kind" and
81 s'aiiectonate" husband Finding this hopeless, he
seems since to have devoted himself chiefly TO SIAN
aeTng her. and reading an alleged copy OF my letter.
with many dramatic accompaniments TO every ac-
quaintance stral ger who Will listen to It, Some
times he ends his tale:-"And now, after ALL don't
believe the scoundrel will marry her." But his
eommon peroration is that If i do, he will kill me
4 ION sight"
Finally he has brought suit against me for civil
Manages rating the money value Of his affections AT
exactly $45 000 That at least ought to prove some
equivalent for being deprived OF the "a1ectionate'
privilege OF striking helpless woman In the face OF
terrifying her with brandlshed knife, and baflled
IN the "temperate' act OF stealing up in the dark be-
hind an unarmed man and shooting him in the back
Whatever the intercepted letter really contains
ne would better print it, ana himself the trouble
o. many future readings and declaimings. wrote
y but Tor one person yet did write II, and pro
4poxe to stand by It, Whatever fault there was in
Ming such an attitude toward lady who had very
pnily separated from her husband, solely
nlne and shall not try to paate 1t. Whatevel
sum Twelve unbiased men may determine that
eve this "goodv and temperate antagonist shal
with Aacrlty pay II It comes within my modes
meals And, nnaly, whatever violence he may re
hreaien or reattempt should the lady ever be legal.
Tree during my lifetime, she will certainly become
my wife If she viii accept so poor man as
-. :. ALBERT ID. RICHARDSON.
Since that time Mcfarland has been heard fre
A.. ,k.w. kN.,a