Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-03-18
ROMANCE AND REALITY
A Nlndfall FOR q Deserted Rife-A Case as
Wonderful as Any Of our Best New
els Can Afford.
A Rusbsnd's Bequsst Comes 10 Ms Wldow
After the Lapse Of EaHy Years.

Perhaps some Of our readers may re
member the parties mentioned:
In the year 1854, one Captain Sidnel
Cough, who Tor some years had com
mandUd a vessel sailing between
Charleston, South Carolina, and Ger
tain European ports, was thrown sud
denly out of commission by the sale Q
his craft to owners preferring anOthe
skipper" and, being doubtful of hi
chances to regain employment in tn
search Of new ship. His wife, whom
he had married in 1850, and to whom
he had ever seemed warmly attached
was anxious to accompany him hither
but, reminding her that his success il
the metropolis was by no means as
sured, he persuaded her to remain il
Charleston, whittier, if unsuccessful
he would return, or, in the event o
his finding a ship, send money
NarihWard then started Captain
Cough alone, aud from that day forth
the wife never saw him sgain. Posi-
bIv he wrote to her once; the mails
were robbed shortly atterwaTd and
his letter may have been destroyed
among many others; but this is pure
Iv hypothetical, and is improbable
from the tact that she received Meth
er this nor any other letter from him.
For months the anxious woman won
dered sud grieyed at the unwarranted
silence OF her husband. She used
every effort TO learn if be had arrived
in New York, OF what had become OF
him. All inquiries proved Uuavail-
ing. The deserted wife mOurned and
vet hoped. A hundred possibilities
suggested themselves TO her mind ;
her husband might have been obliged
10 sail Immediately and had no time
90 write; it might be that he was I'M
able To forward her money, and felt
ashamed to send a letter without an
fucl0sure Of funds. Then again came
the thought that he might no longer
live; that some sudden sickness had
Overtaken him, and that he had died
away from home and friends; or that
by misstep he had fallen from the
wharf and met his death by that
Ereacheruus element through which
hls ship had traversed so many thou
sand miles.
This latter possibility that he was
dead gained ground as the years
passed, bringing no news OF the miss
ing one. Meantime the wife stTUg-
gIei on, living as best she might
from the proceeds of musiC-teaching.
Thus year after year passed on with
out one word or sign 10 rest a hope
upon. uuul at last, sick at heart Of the
CITY 10 which she had known such q
pitiless sorrow, Mrs. Cough removed
20 Michigan, where her early family
live, and there undertook permanent
~ the earning of such q livelihood as
her teaching Of q pi8nOfOrte would
WELD. Ii was in the course OF this
vocation in her new field that some
months ago she became acquainted
with some ladies, who, on hearing
her story, told her that they were
sure her husband had died in GliiOr-
MIA years before, leaving her a fortune
of several thousand dollars. Greatly
astOnished as the poor woman was at
this apparent impossible story, her
amaZement was not more marked
than that Of the persons who, in tell
iug her the story, could scarcely COM
Dreheud how it was that she heard
90 first from themselves.
Finding her really in ignorance Of
the whole matter, the ladies then pro-
ceeded 60 inform her thEt some three
years ago they had read i'm some
Detroit paper, apparently copying
from q California journal, an account
Df will lately made public in the
latter State, whereby the sum Of S2O,-
600 was lelJ TO the widow Of Sidney
Cough, formerly a sea captain, in
uIhlmenJ OF a trust which had long
been abused by the penltent testatOr.
said tesJaiOr, IL appeared, had been a
friend 20 GOugh-thOugh not knowing
him by that name at first-in CalifOr-
MIA, somewhere about the year 1857,
and. upon the subsequent death of
Cough, had taken the eX-Captain's
property In trust, to be delivered to
Mrs. Cough in Charleston. Instead
of 80 delivering it, however, testatOr
had basely appropriated it 10 his own
use, until, brought to repentance by
the terrOrs Of a death-bed, he be-
qUeathed the sum above named to the
WrOuged wife Of him whose dying
trust he had betrayed, and left il to
the legal authorities and newspapers
10 make known the act of final resti-
tuition, and convey a knowledge of it
70 her whom it chiefly concerned.
Such was the newspaper story as
the ladies informing the surprised
widow recalled it, and subsequent in
duiries among the friends Of these
ladies developed the fact that Others
remembered the Detroit publication.
A lady writing on the subject TO Mrs
Cough, from Port Huron, Michigan,
said: " I can be positive about moth
ing, only that / saw In some paper,
and ] an convinced in my own mind
that DC was the Detroit Advertiser and
Iri5uae, about four years ago, prOb8-
biy i've, that some years ago Captain
Cough died in California q am quite
sure the name was spelled GOff) sud
denly. and dying, intTusted TO friend
10 forward the news of his death aud
his property 10 his widow. The
friend, instead of following out the
wishes of the Captain, had retained
she property and sent no word. He
finally came TO his death bed, and al
that late hour tried to make some
amends for his past uutaithfulness by
sending 10 MB. Cough $40 900.
Whether that was the original sum
Aeft by the Captain, or was the aecu-
mutation of that, / did not understand
by the way the notice read. 1t fur
Lher spoke Of the widow as having
maintained herself meanwhile, /
think it said, as a music teacher"
A citing upon the vague but signiti-
cant Information thus CuriOusly COM
ing to her, Mrs. Cough has written
uDOn the subject 10 persons in CalifOr-
MIA. though with hut little promise Of
an immediate solution Of the mys-
terry. The Chronicle, Oi San Fran
cisco. says that, that as lar ~ present
20, the following state
ment Is worthy Of CredenCe: Captain
Cough. after leaving Charleston, went
10 California (fOT what reason is un-
explained) and there succeeded IN
some money, but whether
SO OGO on less, cannot be determined.
Neither is it known if he lived there
under his true name. Having been
taken in, and finding himself dying,
he intrusted the property to a friend,
to be by him conveyed to his deserted
Wifg-Mrs. Maria Cough. The friend
proved iaithlea5 and retained the
property. lie In turn died, and by
the terms OF his will las it is sup
posed) conveyed the estate 10 the
rightful owner, and directed that an
for her should be pub
lished.
From this advertisement must have
come the original OF the Detroit pa
per's story; and il the parties now en-
gagged in searching for il shall be sue
cegstul, there is little doubt that the
widow may soon enter into the estate
designed for her by her erratic de-
ceased husband.
In a number Of the States, as in
Pennzyl the State and national
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