Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-04-14
A V.Fllabis Hiss 6Wilt-TFuih agaln
Pslss Fiction EsrrIsge In the
First month Of WldBWh0od.
A Strange Eys7'fa HislsFy-On the stage
-saydr - CFitieudsn -Shs Preys
uBoH his PaFss-She Sheets Hin
Ia Presence q His Wife.
From the New York world. ]

uBon his Pgrss-She Sheets Hin
Ia Presence q His Wife.
From the New York World
In or about the year 1917 there died,
in a certain town in Alabama, one
Mr.. Hunt, who, although generally
deemed a respectable and industrious
citizen, had been so indiscreet as to
90 live up to" his whole income, and
consequently left his family so poor at
his death that the expenses Of his
modest funeral, even, completely eX-
haUsted his pitiful estate. Berelt Of
her husband, the
WIDOW HUNT
found herself peuniless in the world,
with two young daughters and son
looking to her for support; aud ia this
accumulation of grief, helplessness,
aud inOrdinate responsibility, knew
of nsugbt else practicable than a
removal with her three children to
the city of New Orleans, where lived
some distant relatives of her late hus
band. and where her son, at least,
might be able to enter into some en-
plOvment as an aid to the mainten-
g
after q while, the Hunts removed, and
according to report, lived there in very
narrow circumstances for two or three
years.
DRUDGERN- AND OBSCURTTY
MIGHT have continued to be their lot
buf f1r the more uncommon and far
less happy destiny of one Of the
daughters. Miss Laura, who to per-
sOnaI beauty Of a very striking type,
added mental characteristics in chrOn-
lie revolt against her trying domestic
station in life. At sixteen years Of
ace this girl was as conscious of her
Dhvsical and intellectual fitness to
shine in the highest sphere Of social
eEistauce as Of the adverse worldly
circumstances booming her to toll
aud hardship in the lowest, and, from
the time Of the removal of the family
to Louisiana. she seems to ave bent
all her keenest faculties upon u scheme
for breaking the bonds of adversity
by the sheer strength Of her wit and
beauty, and raising her relatives and
herself to something like
AMBITIOUS LIVING.
IL CHANGED that the impoverished fam
fIv. ia the course Of their petty trad
ing. became acquainted with a rich
wholesale grocer, named Strong, who,
although old enough to have been the
grandfather Of Laura, suffered the at
fractions Of the young lady to enthral
his WidOWer's heart with sentimental
rapidity. and was tempted by her
anlisble demeanOr to offer her his
hand in marriage. If there is nothing
in the Iublished record of this part of
Miss Hunts life to show that she
felt any particular affection for
the suitOr, there is also nothing
70 Justify the idea that her acceptance
of his ardent suit was any more faint
ed with uuWOmauly motives than are
the matches OF convenience arranged
in the most
POLITE SOCIETY
every year. 1t is but Just to give her
the credit, in this matter, of the sup
position detracting the least from her
character for delicacy and aver
age Integrity. Being that as it
might have been, however, Mr..
Str0ng's offer was accepted, the mar
riage took place, and the bridegrOOm's
money lifted the bride and her family,
temporarily, to comfortable circum-
stances. SummOning common Chris
tfsn charity to the qualification Of in
divfdual Judgment again, it is possible
to believe that if this matrimonial
uuiOn had proved even passably har-
m0ni0us, the nature of the young wife
might have been preserved from any
signal perversiOn, and her subsequent
career undistinguished by more fOllies
and Ofienses than ordinary
LF-WILED WOMEN
ind indulgence for every day, but,
unhsppily, soon after the wedding the
husband was reVealved as little better
than a drunken, despOtic savage, who,
in his frequent cups, treated his wife
with outright brutality. At first Lau-
ia was cOutented to know that her
friends understood the condition Of
affairs, and sympathized with her as
strongly as they denounced her hus-
band: but, being finally eXasperated
into the bravadO Of a pretended fiirta-
ti0n by some particularly insulting
act Of her husbands, the latter's beha-
vi0r to her became so outrageous that
sine at once left him and made appli-
cation for divorce. The suit never
came to trial, because Strong died of
mania.a-pOtU while 1t was yet pend
ing: but, from the moment of having
resort TO that remedy, Laura seemed
10 cast aside all that there was Of
HER BETTER NATURE
and become careless alike of the judg-
ments of God and man. Because her
sister bad married a relative Of her
late husband, she persuaded her moth
er and other relatives to disOWn the
offender releutlessly for life. All who
had ia the most tritiing degree 'made
allowances" for the deceased grocer,
she abused and defed without stint,
while her appreciation for those who
had unc0nditiOnally champiOned her
cause was eXtravagantly evinCed by
hpr marriage with one of them-a
gentleman named GraysOn-in the
first month of her WidOWhOOd. By
this act she forfeited the regard Of all
her worthy friends, and scarcely was
the scandal over at its food, when she
left her second husband, for some wild
reason never explained, TO mourn that
ne had ever known her, and, il is said,
10 commit suicide. Become now a
thorough
FEMALE OUTLAW AND ADVENTURER,
and possessed apparently Of a reck-
less determination 10 prey upon all
whom she could ensnare into her net,
she fuduced-0r rather, commanded
bar rather weak minded mother and
brother to 90 with her to California,
where. as She thought, the field other
proposed depradatiOns might be less
circumscribed by the restraints Of so
cisl civilization. It does not appear
clearly whether her third husband,
Colonel Fair, was met and married
by her i'm the South before the Cali
f0rnia departure, or was amongst
those first greeting her at "the mines"
but il was certainly as Mrs. Fair that
the innocent and vivaciOus Laura
Hunt OF former times, opened q hotel
the Fair HOUSE" " in 1854, or 1856,
fu Virginia City, Nevada. The story
Of this marriage is envelOped in some
mystery. The Colorado GsiefJain saws
that its brief period had its scene in
D1unisville, California, where, after
many iufelicities, the husband
BLEW his BRAINS OUT,
and the wife departed with his effects
for San Francisco. According TO this
account il must have been late in 1854,
or nearly in 1855, that the woman un-
dertOOk the career of an actress on the
STAGE of the Metropolitan Theater in
4 III.