Middletown transcript., 1870-06-18

pHeW. ADOub Lne same tlm6 ne married nj
cousin, the most lovely and accomplished o
the family. 1t is but few years sine,
this woman died, after an experience il
life at which we can only give a glance
Divorced from Clarence Wallen on ac
count of his criminal infdelity, she mar
ried an officer in the navy, and lived with
him till her death, in restless fear of the bao
man from whom the law had separated
her, who still hung uneasily about the
neighborhood. The griefs that she bore
in hearing his name are not for me to re.
cord they are part of our great unwritten
tragedy of the hearthstone in which pale,
patient, suffering women are the chief ac-
tors, and of which many and many fire.
side is the scene.
Some time after Clarence Wallen had
entered upon the duties of his clcrkship,
the considerable sum of nine hundred dol
lars was lost by him in manner that
seemed very mysterious. The money be-
longed to the railroad, and Wallen had
taken it home for safe keeping on Satur-
day night. His wife was then absent from
town for few days, and Wallen had in
vited young man of his acquaintance to
pass the night with him. The money was
shown to this companion at night, before
the two retired together, in Wallen's trou-
sers pocket, the trousers being thrown
over chair. In the morning Wallen
woke his companion in great excitement
and distress, to inform him that the mon
ey was gone. And surely it was gone but
neither of the two, so they said, had heard
any noise in the night, and, save this,
there were no signs of the presence of
thieves. The loss was spread about the
village, and people speculated about it,
and wondered how it could have been ta-
kens None were more puzzled by the af-
fair, and none expressed more surprise
about it, than Wallen's uncle-until the
ticket-receiver of the road shrewd, ST.
lent man, took him aside and astonished
him still more with hint.
II think you had better say no more
concerning the loss of that money, Mr..
Wood" he said. I" You don't seem to
know what is known by half this commu-
nifty, that Clarence Wallen is an unprinci-
Piled young man; a hard drinker, a de-
bauchee and gambler. He can tell you,
if he will, what has become of that mon
ey; and if he tells you that it has gone
anywhere else than under the gaming -ta-
BILE, he will be liar, as we'll as a thief.
Young Archer is either his dupe or con-
fedcrate."
The unhappy uncle and father-in-law
was never in Ignorance of the real charac-
ter of his daughters husband, after that.
to leave his place with the
Company, Wallen went rapidly from bad
to worse, lived life of dissipation and
evil association, and speedily connected
his name with series of frauds, pecula-
tions and even forgeries. More than
once-more than half dozen times-his
acts had brought him almost within the
shadow of the penitentiary, and each time
his too indulgent relative stepped forward
md saved him at the expense of heavy
drafts on his purse. Much better would
it have been for the community, and per-
laps the criminal, had this kindness been
and the law suffered to take its
course.
Clarence Walden was man who seemed |
% live in an atmosphere of wickedness
md such man can hardly live to be thir-
y years of age without committing some
enormous crime. The crime with which
his man stained his soul was one of the
most dreadful, in its base ingratitude, and
n its attendant circumstances, that | ever
NEW 1t occurred in February, I be-
ieve, of the year 1862, in the county
own of the county in which Wallen had
'een living.
For months preceding its commission,
his man had been seen at different places,
within short intervals, fitting to and fro
ike an uneasy spirit; now at the place
Vhere he had lived, now at the county
eat, and then disappearing for brief
bsence elsewhere. He was seen in Ran
olph, as | will style the second place, by
nany people, but only for few moments
{ time he came and went secretly, and
% one knew what was his business, or
1hat were his designs. And it was not
ntil the truth was divulged, in connec-
ion with the murder, that it became
nown that this man, resting under the
NV of divorce as he was, which forbade
is marrying again, was making clandes-
ne visits at night to the young and beau
full daughter of one of the foremost men
l the place--foremost both in wealth and
responsibility, as well as in family con-
ections. am no metaphysician, and
ever pretended to understand much of
he workings of the female heart; and
'me one wiser than must search for the
ause that would impel such girl, in
lch a position, to throw herself into the
rms of an unprincipled reprobate such as
le must have known Wallen to be. As
IF Wallen's motives, they were clear G. {
ough; he meant to take fast hold of this
ri, to enslave her affections, to decoy
sr away, and thenceforth to hold terror )
Ier her relatives which nothing but gold :
ould satisfy. =,
And so, to accomplish his object, he 8
me and went, fitting to and fro, and +
Getting her secretly, in the shadows of :
e night. But to do this in secrecy, he r