Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1870-05-19
MRS. McPARLAND'S STATE
MRNT.

Ihe narrative OF MIS-. Mctarlnlu, OF
rather Mrs. Richardson, published In
the New York Tribune, must 20 far to
convince the public that all sympathy
expended upon her former husband
has been wasted. The simple story Of
her married life is enough to satisfy us
that Mcfarland WAS never a good hus-
band to her. He appears to have
courted her with n lie in his mouth,
representing himself as comparatively
wealthy, when in fact he was so poor
that he had to borrow the money for
the bridal tour. He never worked
when lie could avoid 1t, but spent his
time seeking for office at Washington,
and never hesitated at pawning his
wife's clothing and jewelry to pay for
their board. During the five years OF
their welded life she appears to have
spont most of the time at her fathers,
her husband being unable to support
her. She soon found that he was i'll
temperate, frightfully profanc, passion
ate, morose, and insanely jealous. Be-
ing too lazy to'earn m honest living,
her persuaded her to give readings.
and prepare for the stage, and he had
so little manllness about him that he
would loaf at home, or get drunk in
some neighboring rum hole, on her
hard earnings. When her first baby
was born, IL was with the utmost ditil-
Guilty that she could procure from him
money enough to buy clothing for it,
and when it died, her father had to pay
the funeral expenses. AS time wore
OH Mcfarland became more drunken,
more brutal and more crazy than ever.
He cursed and swore at his wife. He
took her sister 10 the theatre, went out
and got drunk, and returning made
maudlin love to her. He threatened
to strangle Mrs. Mcfarland, and more
than once struck her brutally in the
face with his fist. In his ungoverna-
BILE fits Of passion, he would smash the
furniture, and In his morose fits he
would suffer whole days to pass with
out speaking to her. In fact, nc be-
hayed like a scoundrel, and n contemp-
tible, drunken loafcr, and succeeded
finally in alternating from himself the
love Of a woman who had so c~onserya-
tive an opinion Of the marriage rela-
ton that, In her own words, she "be-
lieyed she should suffer death rather
than resist the laws of marriage." The
story of her welded life Is the story Of
one continued series of insults, wrongs,
outragcs and humiliations, sustained at
the hands of McFarland, and submitted
to by her with q patience absolutely
wonderful. The story Of her acquaint-
ance with Richardson Is the story Of a
half broken hearted woman, tied to
a sordid, whisky-souled, half crazy
wretch, meeting a ~high-soulcd, warm
hearted man, who secs her forlorn
condition, helps her, encourages her,
and, perhaps because Of the great COIL
trast between himself and that other
thing, finally secures her affections.
We have never believed that Richard
son wronged her, and this narrative
confirms our confidence in the purity
of their relations. All the wrong, all
the outrage, was OH the other side, and
when we know the true history Of this
miserable affair, we have no word OF
blame for the woman who left her
husband-we have only amazemcnt
that she should have stayed with him
so long. Let those who find the task
congeHial defend Mcfarland, the
drunkard, the loafer, the wife-beater,
the cowardly assassin. Let thosewhose
ethics are SO warped that theyisee in
the case anything calculated toi injure
the morals Of society, apart from its
termination, cry down Mrs. Mcfarland
and Mrs. Calhoun. Let such proclaim
rs matter for rejoicing that once more
the right Of Man to outrage. and
wrong Woman under the name
of Wife, has been established in a So
called Court Of Justice and that once
more that sapient tribunal, q common
jury, has endorsed the right of every
rascal to shoot whoever undertakes to
shield and shelter the woman his
brutality and outrage have driven from
him. For ourselves, we are free to
confess that the part taken in this
drama by those who have been accused
of free love doctrines seems to us to be
the part of upright, honorable, intelli-
gent men and women !; and If this
lIluGeu Is lIGe lONC1 0itN "a ~
side Is orthodoxy, our friends may as
we'll consider us among the supporters
and endorsers of the accused, In this
connection. Of all things we hate
cant. We abhor hypocrisy and want
of m~anliness. And we have read so
much hypocritical cant, so much dis
honest and unmanly stuff, in con-
nection with this trial, that we are
inclined to be ashamed of our genera
ton. We therefore take pleasure In
expressing our deliberate opinion that
Mrs. Mcfarland was entirely justified
in leaving her husband; thatlsiie' was
entirely Justified in marrying Richard.
son; that she acted upon good and
wholesome advice throughout; that
Mcfarland is a low, mean, contempt
IDLE scoundrel; and that justice was
most shamefuliy abused when he es-
capped the gallows for as deliberate and
cowardly a murder as ever dlsgraced
the planet on which we live.-Sae.
D,ana1 .... ....|