The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1870-05-19
Mrs. sicsariand's Defence.

The New York Tribune, yesterday.
contained very long and elaborate
statement by Mrs Abby Sage McFar.
laud (Richardsony) of her grievances
and McFarlaud's crueliies to her, which
she puts forth as defence and justi-
fication OF her course and Richardson's.
Admitting the truth of all MIS-.
Mcfarland says 10 respect to her hus.
bands treatment of her. there IL
enough In her own admissions, ss to
the conduct Of herself aud Richards,o.
to condemn them both in the eyes of
all who appreciate the .acrcdne,s Of the
marriage obligation and the duty Of n
wife aud mother
10 charity to Mrs Mcfarland, or Mrs.
Richardson, we will, for the present.
assume that the divorce which she oh
obtained in Indiana is valid, and set
her legally, if not morally, free from
her husband but, this divorce was
not grnted until October, 1869 In
her defense she publishes n letter writ
ten to her by Mr.. Richardson, under
date Of March 81, 1867, which abounls
with expressions of affection, ,and which
closes us follows:
my darling, in all that I am or do,
or have or hope for, in lite or death,
you are irrevocably interviewer. |
regret nothing that have done, save
Just the extent that it has Affected OF
marred your happiness. My whole
heart, my whole life 20 out to you. |
think see happy .uturc. sunny days,
loves OF children, loves of home, good
to others. | know | SEQ loyalty
nothing eau shake, n trust that is all
solute, u love that is utter and valid.
This letter, of course, had especial
reference to the writer's contemplated
marriage with Mrs Nc cFarland, then.
unqucstionably, tho lawful wifo OF
another.
Mrs. Mcfarland, in her statement
of yesterday, speaks Of this letter 10
the following language:
This letter is the keynote Of tho
absolute love and trust in which Mr..
Richardson held me for tho three years
which passed uo,il his death. For the
feeling with which / tried to repay
nis loyalty to me, and the graii,nde
felt for the chivalry with which he
tried TO avert it possible, all the mis-
fortunes which seemed destined to to
fall on my helpless head, | have no
word to speak. But the last senteu-
ccs 4 the letter have just quoted
,cere IN my heart a',cays."
Now all this, reduced to plain fact.
amounts simply TO an admission Of
love making and an engagement OF
marriage with Richardson while she
was the wife of Mcfarland, and thi-
was the direct cause of Richardson's
untimcly death and of all the scandal
connected with that event McFarlind
may have been cruel and brutal in hi.
treatment Of his wife but Mrs. Nc
l'arland admits that while she was
his WIFI, she entered into an engage
nent of marriage with another man
and that the sentences in Richardson 5
letter, in which he spoke Of their
happy future" as man and wife, with
the " loves of homo and the cloves
Of chHiirea." wcrc in her heart
al,caysr afterwards. However she
may excuse herself for this, society will
hold her accountable for great wrong
against one of It's most scared iustu'iots 5
Allmay pity her for the many troubles
she endured aud the tcrturcs of mini
she suffered, but there are happily
but few who will justify her manner
Of meeting them, or, rather, her plan
for escaping from them Sinless though
she may have been, in her physical
demeanor, her heart was false to the
highest dictates Of duty, AMI was nj.
lowed 10 wander astray in path for
biddeu by the laws OF both God aud
man.
If, as Mrs. Mcfarland says in clos
ing her defense, her husband was half
mailman from natural inheritance.
and half-brute from natural procliv-
ity," she. nevertheless had married
him, and he was the farther of her
chilircd; and, if such was his nature.
she might have lawfully procured beth
legal separation from him and the
custody oftheir children, thus preserv-
iny herself respectable, AMI sparin.
her offspring the shame which her
wrong course has brought upon them
Bat she, preferred forbidden course
which naturally resulted in death to
one aud dishonor to many. Her clab-
crate defense, therefore. does not ans.
wer its purpose. Her own admissions
vitiate title Day l2h inst.