The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1870-04-14
AN UNPLEASANT STORY.
n Wealthy Californian Marries
His Own Daughter.


IL would seem, from the frequent oc
currence of remarkable incidents, that
there is certainly nothing of an improb'
able nature, judging from the following
wonderfully strange and hardly crcdi-
bic story which came to our ears II few
days since:
In the Spring of 1919, when the gold
fever was at its highest. possible state
Of excitement in California, there lived
in the State of Virginia, on the banks
Of the York river few miles below
Yorktown, gentleman Of culture,
whose parents were ia moderate cir
cumstances, 1t was during the gold
excitement he left the comforts OF a.
home, his friends, relatives, Il loving
wife, whom he had led to the alter hut
Il year since, and an only child--a
daughter Of two months--and took up
his lonely journey to seek his fortune
i'll the wild, distant West, over and be.
yond the Rocky Mountains, where the
bright and golden sun sinks down to
rest amid tie bEug waves OF the Pacific
After years Of toll, drudeery and
reverscs Of fortune in the mines, he
cane IT, this city and engaged in bust
uess, He Ociu. successful, soon amas
sel an immense fortune. His beloved
wife had died during q prevailing epE
demic while on visit TO some relatives
during the yellow fever season at New
Orleans, as at the same time did Ill
tie girl OF another family OF the same
name and age as his little daughter. lie
visited the States, but finding no clue
to his deceased Wi!'cs sister, he thought
natu ally, she, too, had died. He re-
turned to tie Golden State. and time
and the whirIng excitement fbusiness
soon healed his sorrOws, aud efaccd,
apparently, all recollectons Of his old
home on the banks Of the placid York.
Shortly after the completion Of the
Pacific railroad there arrived in this
city gentleman, his wife, and beau
tiiuI, wcIl-educaled and graceful young
lady, just blooming into maidenhood
apparently and really about eighteen
summers. 1t was by chance the Young
lady and aged widower met--and to
meet Was TO love. They were duly
married after short acquaintance the
ceremony being celebrated with great
eclat and creating no little iluttcr in
the fashionable and wealthy circles of
our city. The fact that both parties
bore the same Christian name excited
no comment or inquiry, as it was one
almost rs common, quite rs common
is that Of Smith or Brown
A few weeks after the marriage, as
the husband and wife naturally inquired
into each others past history and an
tecedcnts, and were gaduplly hccom
ing acquainted with each other, the
denoucmcnt camc--thcy were father
and daugltcr-man and wife; the in
stinctive love Of the parent for Che chil3
and the daughter for the father, had
been superseded by the strong, emo,
tiona! passion Of sexual love. Both
innocent at heart but foully criminal in
the eyes of man and God,
His daughter was not dead, as he
supposed, but, after the death Of his
wife, WIS kindly taken in charge by his
sister-in-law, who had married and
moved to q distant State, and who, al
50, with her husband, accompanied his
wifcs daughter to this coast, to meet
rs strangers, lovers, and subsequently
as parent and child, as they were, cul-
tivatcd, passionate love changed into
flial and paternal devotion.
Wonderfully strange, indeed, are the
fortutous circumstances which coli
troll and guide The footsteps of erring
and susceptible mortals.