Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1870-05-17

his toilet, and began to say some
thing soothing to prevent the Outburst of
his i'll temper, which I feared was soon
coming, when he turned and struck me a
blow across my face, which made me reel
backward. From that time took an en-
tirely different course with him. When in |
one of these furies, 1 hadshed great many |
tears under his cruelty, and had tried to |
reason with him, and had tried entreaties !
ana persuasion; after this, whenever he |
was in one Of his paroxysms, as he himself |
called them, ! never moved nor spoke, but
keeping perfectly self controlled, as far as
could. got quiet, always keeping my
eye on him, because | always fancied as
the lOnger'I looked steadily at him he
would not do me any mortal violence. And
| believe now, as | believed then, that my
life was saved by this silence and self con-
troll. He has sometimes approached me
with his hands extended, the fingers bent
like claws as if he was about to clutch my
throat, and cried, How | should like to
strangle YOU or Your life is bound some
time to end in tragedy or Your blood will
be on your own head and has, think,
been restrained because | simply looked at
him, without raising word. In these flu
ries he would often seize and break any
thing that was at hand-lamps, glasses,
mirrors and sometimes the heavier furni
ture of the room. Often he would rise
from bed in these uncomfortable fits of pas
sion, tearing away all the bed clothing,
tearing in shreds his own night clothing,
throwing anything he could find that was
breakable, crashing about the unlighted
room till it seemed to me there could be
no pandemonium worse than that in which
| lived; and all this he would do without
explanation, or even pretext for complaint
against me, and when l knew no more
what excited him than babe unborn. He
would sometimes keep up this conduct and
this abuse for hours, without syllable or
a motion being made on my part, and he
would then burst into tears, begging my
! pardon, say that | was the best woman liv-
| ing, and then go to bed exhausted Some
! times he said, Your - silence irritates me
more than if you talked In the winter of
| 1868 and 1864 we were at Mr. Sinclair ;.
our neighbOrs. One night while there Mr..
! Mcfarland came home so bruised and
/ bleeding from some street brawl a common
occurrence on his part, that I was obliged
to call on Mr.. Sinclair for aid in getting
him to bed. 1t was only two or three
weeks before the death of my youngest
child, or | should not have done 50. This
event kept Mr.. Mcfarland in his room for
more than a week. carried his meals to
him myself, that his disgrace might not be
seen and commented on by the boarders. "
Mrs. Richardson also narrates her effort,
to support herself and her children by
writing for the papers and magazines; the
greater part of her earnings being appro-
priated by Mcfarland. She declined aid
from the Sinclairs from motives which
could not allow her to receive charity, anC
mentions McFarland's procuring a thou.
sand dollars in January, 1866, by black
mailing an oil land owner of Pennsylvania
threatening to expose Irregularities in hi.
income returns if he did not give him mon
ey. In the winter of 1866 she first me
Mrs. Calhoun, and January >. 1867. aftel
unusually harsh and inhuman treatmen
from her husband, wrote her the letter Civ
ing her the statement of her wrongs, anC
f appealing for sympathy and advice, which
Mrs. Calhoun answered in the letters which
were read on the trial. In this Mrs. Rich
ardson says Dear - try to write these
r things coldly and mechanically. | wan
to do 50, so as not to be unjust, but | mus
write you. feel | must let you know
/, something Of ny inner life, and OF tn
e. struggles that no one can see, or shall
die. / don't know what to DO, or wha
! course to take | want to be advised
: have written these wild words incoherent
:: ly. | know writing Is not my natural meth
t cd of expression to get some Of this weigh
r off of me, and | have tried to write Justly
v | know | must in some way protect mysel
n from Mr.. Netherlands mode of revengin
/. any careless words upon me. ! have mad
t up my mind today to tell the Sinclairs
l. feel the encroachm ats Of his habits,
It dread my future so much, and have III
O babes to think of beside. Yesterday h
o drew two weeks of my salary at the thea
; tire and paid the weeks board bill, and
d fear will spend good deal ofsthe money
t. which we need so much, in liquor. Don
2 come to me after reading this. l fear
d shall repent writing it. Yours always
p loignedl ABBY
| con the evening of + ebruary 20, 1867
is says Mrs. Richardson, before going to Ii
n theatre, [ secreted his razors, his poke
to knife, my scissors, and all articles COZ
- sidered dangerous, as | frequently did O
m such occasions, and left him; but when
h came home he was still raging He fir
70 quently had made threats of committir
is suicide, going out of doors with that avoy
st ed purpose. On this occasion, about mi,
re night he babe me an unusually solen
I eternal farewell, and told me that th
J. time he was certainly going out to destro
~ himself. He had done this so many tim
~ that | said nothing and made no effort
m detain him. At the door he hesitated. al
at asked if had nothing to say in their la
II, parting. l said, 4 can only say that l a
H. hOpelessly sorry for you He went o
and in few moments returned, as l kne
III he would, cooled and sobered by the co
~ night air, and then it being nearly NOR
ifa ing, as mildly and firmly as / possib
nd could, | began to talk with him. I to
al him decidedly that l should leave him fo
.Iv ever; that had borne with patience f
NO many years great outrages from him; tn
W. he had made my life miserable, and b.
- put me in great dread of my life; that
-, could not endure it any longer; that
a. his outrageous conduct for the two ps
n days, and by the language he had us
:, when he had found me at Mr.. Richardson
arv door, he had added the last drop to my CT
al of endurance, and that ! should 90 aw
on from him at once. On this he groyeled
it. my feet and in the most abject penitenC
gs He wept, sobbed and begged OF me to ft
nv give him. He confessed that he had wron
~ ed me, and that no woman would ha
borne with him as / had, and about da
,ro light went to sleep exhausted. The ne
+ . morning l did not allude to my purpo
no but after seeing him leave the house
,d Mr.. McElrath's office, / went to Mr.. ST
r. clair's and placed myself under the p
,e9 lection of his roof, and never afterward $
,yo Mr.. Mcfarland, except once or twice
on the presence of Others"
ull Mrs. Richardson then passes to sta
Of h.,