Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1870-03-17
On the Trail.

r.. aha summer Of 1862 Miss Mary We'll
~ and estimable and beautiful young
o., If Batavia, in New York state, was
iA,,;ed to a young lawyer named Charles
\ l n"1,be under auspices of as much hapPi-
GU. % rsually falls to the lot of two hearts
H. heat as one. Within Six months after
.be wedding-day, however, the husband al
&&, ln his treacherous fancyio wander from
H. le0itimate object, and, after various
lives ~, of discord at home, night in Jag
,ayy of the following year witnessed the
onwsrdly flight of the recreant In company
- hsr who had tempted him astray, -
~ ~ deserted wife, although but seventeen
iors old was no heart broken girl to sink
] oInl,ss under her great wrong, nor CON-
noap victim of injury to sue the law for
4 -arsyation. After the first wrenc ling shock
~ me mans perfdy bad subsidized,
.be turned all of q goodly property
& s.ionqinp to her into money, and, with
j u~san'flled purse and relentless purpose,
Node adieu to home and friends forever,
md started in pursuit OF the fugitves.
4 Kaeply detecting such slight trail as the
latter had lett behind .hem, she went first
10 Philadelphia and then to Baltimore in
tSeir track, reaching either city just one
iay too late. The cowardly instinct of
Suilt warning Smythe and his companion
tbat A tireless pursuer was behind them,
tbsv hurried restlessly southwark to the
tben hostile country of Virginia, and by
come dexterous sub'erfuge passed within
.ba lines of the Southern army. To the
yerv Potomac followed their righteous
,nrmv. and there she was forced to
l pause for, at that time the United
States army was angry and suspicious
from recent reverses, and, for once
in the period of the war, no non-com-
hatapt could pass its lines without great
danger. Disappointed, but not despairlng
The resolute gir-wife possessed her indig-
! mt soul with patience, and, in a. obscure
retreat, awaited the opening of the temple
of Janus. AS events turned, she could no.
resume her journey until after the surren-
der of Lee, and, by that time, all definite
track of the flying ones was lost to her.
Still she went on untiringly, visiting every
important city and town of the South in
succession, and everywhere instituting the
most searching inquiries In 1868, at New
Orleans, she struck the trail again. They
! had been there for few weeks, and both
] were described as 10 king haggard, miser,
able, and vaguely fearful of some ever
Impending retribution. They had gone
from thence to Cuba, whittier followed
the purser; that the guilty instinct had
warned them again in time, and still the
pursuit was few days too late. 1t is
scarcely necessary to particularize further
the long chase of the last five vears, extend.
ing as it has from New York to Missouri;
from thence to Salt Lake City, Arkansas
and all the cities of California and Nevada
The wife is now in st. Joseph for the second
time, and still as fierce in her purpose as
when she first started upon the trail seven
years ago. There is no lingering love in
this purpose, no idea of loving reclamation
for i'm she follows; but such an intention
as interprets itself to strangers only by
pitiess CLEAN Of the eye and q studied i'm.
mobility of face. In Sacramento, the
wretched partner of the husbands flight
died of WEAKNESS and remorse; but the
conscence-stricken man still flies betoi e the
'woman scorned, and may yet be fortunate
enough to die before overtaken by that fury
which the poet has attributed to such
woman,