The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1872-08-03
A Strange Story Of Confidence and
4I'e0cHePy.


leleA that if the facts. were not well authen-
ticated they would scarcely be believed.
The story was told us during little supper
at the Washington Club bya gentleman III
possession of all the documents necessary
to sustain every allegation Of fact
Some six years since young law student
of this CITY fell in love with and courted
lovely olrI. who soon returned his love, and
the two became engaged to he married
The young gentleman was poor, however,
and not yet admitted to his profession, so
that marrying for the time seemed out of
the question. He was madly in love, how
ever and fearing that before he could Sc
cure Il sufficient competence TO justify mar
rying, he would lose the object of his atfec-
tions, he plead with her to have secret
marriage, and promised that Immediately
after the ceremony she should return to her
home, and he would, as usual, go to his
bachelor quarters. After much persuasion,
she consented, and the two were united i'll
wedIock at the church of st. John, ia
Georgetown, by the Rev. Mr.. Tillinghast7
upon the - of June, 1866.
his promise, but he soon became as impOr-
tunate for the possession of her person as
he had been for the secret marria ge- OF
course she yielded; but they kept their Sc
crets, and as his progress in the law was
very slow, she, at his suggestion, brought
an influence to bear upon the administra-
ton that resulted in an appointment to a
Western Territory. Her social position and
connections were sufficient to control the
appointment, and she had money enough
to provide him with an outfit.
The young man departed, and made quite
a successful career for himself in his new
field of operations, and writing regularly
and returning at Intervals, he assured her
of his heartfelt affection and earnest Ell
deavors to procure home suited to her.
This sort of thing continued for four years,
when she was telegraphed to meet him at |
Cincinnati. She fastened to obey, and ar
irving at the last named place, found her
husband in a great state of excitement
He told her that he had got involved in .
transactions, and the choice was |
presented to him of either marrying rich /
woman, who loved him to distraction, or /
being sentenced to the pcnitentiaTy, and I
that he had married, and was now III her
power She could punish him for his
dastaIdly conduct, and il she did that he
could not complain; he added, however,
that he had parted from the woman at the
door of the church, that he did not love
her. and could not love her. and could not
love any one but his lawful wife.
Appealed to in this manner, she could
only ask him what could be done, that she
was ready and willing to shield him to the
last. He then suggested 4 divorce and said
that he could go to New York and procure
one without any difficulty. To this she
consented, and the two wended their way
to the great commercial center, where he f.
found divorce lawyer and in three days
a divorce was procured upon testimony
manufactured between the husband and |
a shyster, of the most extraordinary |
character One man, for example, by the /
name of -, swore that he had known |
the plaintiff and her husband for years in !
Pa, place the poor woman |
had never seen. Another witness, calling |
himself --, swore that the parties were
bona fde residents of New York and that .
he had frequently accompanied the defen-
dant in nightly visits to houses of ill-fame:
that on one occasion he had waited at such .
a place for defendant until tired, and then
went to the room, knocked at the door, and
being told to come in, found the defendant
putting on his clothes with prostitute I'M
dressed in the room.
Upon this showing the divorce was
granted, and the decree winds up as fol-
lows:
"That the marriage between the said plain
tiff -, and the said defendant, --,
be dissolved, and their said marriage is
hereby dissolved accordingly. And the
said parties are and each of them is free from
the obligations thereof. And further that it
shall be lawful for the said plaintitfto marry
again in the same manner as though the
was actually dead. But it shall
not be lawful for the said defendant TO mar
y again until the said plaintiff be actually
lead.
Enter, S. JONES, Judge"
The poor wife returned to her home,
feeling that she had done heroic act in
shielding the man she loved, and sustain
ing herself with this thought time rolled
on, until one morning she awakened to the
startling fact that she had been cruelty
She learned that the man to
whom she had chung was about to marry a
lady of the first connection in
the land. She made inquiry, and found, to
her sickening disgust, that the day was
actually set upon which this infamous out
rage was to be perpetrated. She hastened
to New York and procured certified copy
of the decree, intending to appear at the
church on the day of the mock marriage
and forbid the banns by presenting copy of
the legal document that showed that,
although separated from her, he was not .
authorized to marry another. Unfortu-
nately, through circumstances over which /
she had no control, she arrived too late. |
The cruel act had been accomplished. A |