The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-04-22
A Singular Case.
a WEALTHY CALIFoRNIAN UNKNow-
INGLY MARRIEs HIS OWN DAUGHTER.

IT would seem, from the frequent oc-
currence of remarkable incidents, that
there is certainly nothing of an inn
probable nature, judging from the fol-
lowing wonderfully strange and hardly
creditable story which came TO our ears
a few days since:
In the spring of 1S49, 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 rivera few miles below York.
towr, gentleman of culture, whose
parents were in moderate circumstan-
ces. 1t was during the gold excitement
he left the comforts of home, his
friends, relatives, loving wife whom
he had led to the altar but year since,
| and an only child-a daughter of two
months-and took up his lonely jour-
ney to seek his fortune in the wild, dis
tant West, over and beyond the Rocky
Mountains, where the bright and gold.
en- sun sinks down to rest amid the blue
waves of the grand Pacific
After years of toll, drudgery, and re.
verses of fortune in the mines, he came
to this city and engaged in business.
He, being successful, soon amassed an
immense fortune. His beloved wife
had died Turing prevailing epidemic
while on visit to some relatives dur
ing the yellow-tever season at New Or
leans, as at the same time did little
girl of another family ,ofthe same name
and age as his little daughter. He Wis
tied the States, but could find no clue
to his deceased wfe's sister; he thought
naturally she, too, had died. He re-
turned to the Golden State, and time
and the whirling excitement of business
soon healed his sorrows, and effaced ap-
parently, all recollections of his old
home on the banks of the placid York.
Shortly after the completion of the
Pacific Railroad there arrived at this
city gentleman, his wife, and beau
tiful, we'll ll-educated, and graceful young
lady just bloomingin into maidenhood,ap
parently and really ofabout ls summers.
1t was by chance the young lady and
aged widower met--and to meet was to
love. They were duly married after a
short acquaintaince;th ceremony being
| celebrated with great ecldt, and Great.
ing no little flutter 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 quite as
common as that of Smith or Brown.
| A few weeks after the marriage, as
the husband and wife naturally inquir-
ed into each others past history and an.
tecedents, and were gradually becon
ing better acquainted with each Othei
the denOcement came they wer
father and daughter-man and wife;thG
instructive love of the parent for the
child, and the daughter for the father,
had been superseded by the strong emo.
tional passion of sexual love. Both in
nocent at heart, but foully criminal in
the eyes Of man and God
His daughter was not dead, as he sup
posed; but, after the death of his wife,
was kindly taken in charge by his sis
ter-in-law, who had married and NOV.
ed to distant State, and who also, with
her husband, accompanied his wife's
daughter to this coast to meet as stran.
gers. lovers, and subsequently parent
and child, as they We're, cultivated, pas.
sionate love changed into filal and par
entail devotion.
! Wonderfully strange, indeed, are the
fortuitous circumstances which control
and guide the footsteps of elring and
susceptible mortals.