The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1870-05-26
THE TRUTHATLAST.
MRS. RICHARDSON'S STATE
.s5 MENT AND AFFIDAVIT. a,s


f' l' go >#al yaiH hli yaH
l feel that cannot break the silence whicl
heretofore have rigidly maintained withou
saying word as to the cause which leads me /,
make public statement / fully believe tha
any one of any degree of pride or delicacy vii
bear reproach and contumely and even the Viles
ISLANDERS In silence rather than drag out to pub
iic comment the most sacred details of his thne
lie, and that only the meanest soul win babbll
OF That which concerns Itself most deeply. BiT
during the last six months, and not little dur
ing the laSt.thfee years, I have been exposed tC
such storm OF public opinion thataH others
| ever knew sink into insignihcance beside it
And now, after have waited in patience tic
| verdict Of newspapers, of the public, ind of q
| New-York Court and Jury, / have decided that
Will speak the first and last word l Ishail ever
| speak for myself. -...- ... q .-,, -. H..
Not for any attempt at my own Yindication
| do write this explanation. But for the sake OF
! the noble men and women who have stood by
me through all revilings often without any eX-
| plan9tion from me, and always in the full faith
l that was most cruelty Wronged; for thersakes,
ana for his who lost Ills life in my behalf wish
to tell The whole story of my life. When was
! once advised to do so and heSiated, q good wo-
man said to me, "Do not be afraid to tell your
story once TO all the world Tell il once exactly
as you would tell it to your Maker, and then
keep silence forever aftern '.,.... -. ..-..I
And this is what mean to do; to write as eX-
actly as can the whole and simple truth to the
| mlnutest DETAIL reserving nothing and extern
uating nothing. In doing this, / neitherasS nor
expect sympathy or justice from the press or
not already convinced that have been most
ungenerously traduced Once l should have
believed of the public press Of America that it
would he onlymecessary for tito kRotO the truth
to speak It, especially where a woman was in
yolved Now, bitter experience has taught me
that political prejudice, personal malice, and
private vengeance, are motives before which
chivalry and pity and generosity, on desire to
be true go to the wall. ....... .s
So it is to my friends write this. TO but very
f1NU nf tlNnNpn told
very sacred few havomy lips been unsealed. And
to the host of generous men and women known
and unknown who have upborHe inc when the
way was very dark and hard for woman's feet
to tread-above all to the women brave and
noble beyond expression, whose sympathy has
forever refuted the Slander that women are not
generous to one of their own seX-to them lay
bare my heart OF all my women friends from
earliest girlhood, know of not one who has
fallen off from me III my great trouble. Nota
single one. Ifit had not been for their unSwerv-
Ing trust and love and sympathy; for the readi-
ness they have shown TO help me bear up my
heavy burdens; for the bravery with which they
have defended me when 1t was reproach 10 do
Soft 1t had not been for them, believe l should
have been utterly crushed Ihave accepted their
loving sympathy as the one compensation for
all the unspeakable misery of my lot. Having
said thus much, which was in my heart and
could not be kept back, begin my story.
married Daniel Mcfarland in 1857. | was
girl of bornih Massachusetts,, and educated in
New England schools. Ihad been teacher and
was just beginning to write little for the press
Daniel Mcfarland was an Irishman of 81 or 80,
who had received partial course at Dartmouth
been admitted to the Massachusetts bar. When
l married HIM, he represented himself to be
member of the bar in Madison, Wisconsin, with
a tlourishihg law practice, brilliant political
prospects, and possessed of property to the
amount of $4,000 to $4,000. He also profeSSed to
be man of temperate habits, of the purCst NOR
ais, and, previous TO, my marriage, appeared
neither intemperate, nor brutal, nor protane.
Immediately after our marriage we made some
visits and then Went to Madison, as / supposed,
to reside permanently. remember we were de-
tanned i'll New-York during our very bridal tour
while he borrowed the money to get back to the
West. After we had been in Madison a few
weeks Mr. Mcfarland informed me that he was
going to remove to New York that all his prop
erty consisted of Wisconsin State lands to the
amount of'a good many thousand acres, on
which only small amount per acre was paid.
He told me that there were large opportunities
for trading these lands in NewNork City, and
that he was going to reside there while he dis
posed of them for real estate or personal proper
ty. He told me at the same time that he had no
money except just sufficient TO pay our fares to
the East and that he had never had any law
practice of consequences, having devoted himself
solely to land speCulatiOns in the West. .f|
We came to New York, consequently, in Feb
ruary, 1853 | was taken i'll ON tile way with a
violent cold and fever, and we were detained in
Rochester ten days. On leaving Rochester he
the hotCl-keeper for OurbOard bill. In New-HOTk
City he kept me three our four weeks, and then
taking all the jewelIy to the pawnbroker's, to
pay the board bill; he sent me home to my
fathers in New Hampshire. l simply tell these
things to give some idea of how they must have
effected young girl fresh from a comfortable
New-England country me, TO whom pawn
brokers' shop was almost an unheard of institu-
tion, and not to convey the idea that 1t was his
poverty which shocked or estranged me.
] went home then in less than three months
after marriage. He gave no directions where to
write him, and for fourteen days | never heard
from him. Nearly beside myself from anxiety,
graphed to friend of his in New York for news
of him. He appeared in two or three days in
answer TO the telegram. Then, for the first time,
had vague suspicion that he might be intem-
peIpte. But knew nothing about intempeT-
ance. l had never in all my life seen man
drunk, except some accidental drunkard in the
street, and tried to dismiss the suspicion. In
week or two Iagain went back to my fathers,
and remained through the Summer of 1858. Dur
ing this time he CAME once or twice TO visit me,
and seemed to be attached TO me. But during
the short time had lived with him, l discover
ed that he was not temperate (although had
not then seen him grossly intOXieated), that he
was terribly profane in my presence, and that
for some slight or fancied causes he would be-
come sulen and morose, not speaking to me for
a day or two. | did not leave my fathers roof
in the Fall of 1858 WITHOUT many mlsgivings;
but was very young and very cheerful in dis
position, and hoped for the best. -. ......
ON returning to NcwYork Mr.. Mcfarland
hired aycottqge in Brooklyn, and furnished two
or three rooms. For few weeks kept a SER
want, but otherwise / lived all alone, almost
without acquaintance and entirely at this
mans mercy. Some of the time-7perhaps half
of the tilne-hG was good to me, and p1ofessed
for me the most eXtrayagant and passionate de-
votion. But he here first began to come home
intoxicated Hewould also come honlelsober,
bringing with him bottles called "Schiedam
Schnapps,p contaning q quart or so Of vile
liquor, and would put them by his bedside, and
drink sometimes the whole before morning.
When begged him not to dc do this he ,, said ms
This is the first time he began to tell me about
his "brain being on fire." which was tayorite
expression with him after he had been drinking,
and TO which so many people have testified to
his using, on the recent trial for his life AS this
was only two or three months before my first
child was born and all my senses were ncryons-
| ly acute, and as was also, as beiGvD a woman
of refined taste and feeling, his breath and whole
| body steaming with the vile liquor which he
drank during these nights while ayawake be-
side him, made him very odious to me, so that
before had been married TO him q year my al-
| fection for hinFwas very much chilled, might
say nearly destroyed. During this Fall of 1858
| hehad made twoor three trades OF his Wisconsin
lands for real estate, and had made what no
called excellent bargains. But during all the
| time was oppressed always by want of money,
and with great difficulty got y scanty wardrobe
| for my baby, which was born in December, 1858.
| In November my sister came to visit me, and
| then sent away my servant and We did the
| housework. During her visit MIR. Mcfarland
| took her to q matinee at the theater; left her
and returned ut the close of the matinee grossly
| Intoxicated; made love to her in his drunken
100lslfness, ana lTlEnteneQ HtH e&SeeulnGty.
| When I reproached him with this conduct he
| swore he would never drink again, and drew up
a written pledge TO that effect, which he kept
apparently several months. AT Christmas time
my baby was born, my mother coming on to
nurse me, and early in the Spring went home
again. My baby died at my fathers, and was
buried7in our family burial-place my father bear
| ing tho funeral expenses. In July OF I'D re-
| turned again to Mr.. Mcfarland. Iremained with
| him this time about three months. My heart
was sorely bruised by the death of my baby,and
/ I Iagq
| and violence. of Mr.. Mcfarland ls temper. Will
- o,,fov ftc tba dofa NJ Of