Connecticut western news., 1873-01-17
Tha MArSnilleS Abduction.

Marseilles, France, has been intensely excited in consequence of very singu- lar affair, the heroine of which is lady of American birth, and excellent con- nections in this country. About six years ago, Henry F. Bigelow, a commits sion merchant of No. 210 Canal street, New Orleans, failed in that city in con sequence of losses sustained during the civil war, and went to Marseilles, where he soon succeeded in obtaining good position in prominent mercantile house. MT. Bigelow was widower, and was accompanied by his only daugh- ter, Bertha, then about eighteen years old, and endowed with remarkable per- sonal charms. Her father moved in the best society of his new home, and the beauty and grace of his daughter were not long in attracting admirers. She treated them politely, but, after all, coldly, until one day she was brought in contact with flashing French sea- man, the first lieutenant on one of the Marseilles and Oriental steamships.
 His name was Maurice Kervel. He was
 but little over thirty years old, tall and
 handsome, an excellent conversational ist, and the very man to win the good graces of @ susceptible young lady. He l y | Bigelow, and one day he astonished her father not little by asking him for the
 hand of his charming daughter. Mir.
 Bigelow was at first inclined to look
 favorably upon the suit of the enamored
 saAor, the more so as his daughter seemed to reciprocate his affection but
 a close inquiry into the affairs and char
 acter of MT. Maurice Kervel convinced
 Mir. Bigelow that he was not suitable
 match for his daughter He found that
 Kervel was man of extravagant habits
 and choleric temper that when under
 the influence of liquor he was extreme
 ly quarrelsome, and had fought several
 duels ; that he had run through with
 the fortune his parents had left him,
 and that he had nothing to depend on
 but his very modest pay. The result of
 all this was that the ieutenants suit
 was rejected, and that he was requested to discontinue his visits. Kervel left
 MT. Bigelow muttering threats of re-
 venge.
 Miss Bertha seemed to care very lit
 tie about the breaking off of this firta-
 tion with her lover, and in 1868 she was
 married to merchant named Jouvinet,
 man of means, with whom she lived
 happily for year. In June, 1869, her
 husband returned one evening to his delightful country residence, but, to
 his astonishment, did not find his wife in her apartments. He questioned the servants about the whereabouts of their mistress, and they said that they had seen Mme. Jouvinet walking in the gar
 den little before dusk. M. Jouvinet searched every nook of the garden and the neighborhood, but not 8 trace of his beautiful wife was to be found. He sent out messengers in all directions,
 but they returned without bringing any information. An examination of the 1 lady's boudoir furnished no clew what ever as to where she might have gone. | The husband passed wretched night,
 hoping every moment for his wife's re-
 turn :; but morning dawned, and she had not yet come. He then sent for the police, and several detectives began to look for the missing lady. They were unable to find any trace of her af
 ter a protracted and patient search.
 Advertisements, offers of large rewards for information concerning her, remain ed without result. Both the husband and father had finally to abandon all hopes of seeing her again, and an i'm penetrable vail seemed to surround her fate. Jouvinet, after mourning for her loss for eighteen months, applied to the court for an annullation of his mar
 riage with Miss Bigelow, and he was
 waiting for the rendition of the decree
 when, on the 3d of November last, an
 event of the most startling character oc-
 cured. He was seated in his counting
 room in the Rue Grande, pouring over his ledger, when the door was suddenly
 opened, and a vailed lady stepped in.
 She drew back her vail, and displayed 8
 bronzed face, the features of which he
 knew only too well. In the next mo-
 ment, he rushed into her arms, cxclaim-
 ing, "Bertha! Bertha!'. It was his
 long-lost wife.
 The explanations she gave him while they sat locked in each others arms about her sudden and long absence were
 so strange that even the chroniquer o1 the Marseilles NouUelliste, to whose pen we are indebted for all these particulars, f confessed that he had rarely met with anything more romantic in his long journaliatic career. Mme. Jouvinet
 stated that on the evening when she
 had parted from her husband she had gone into the garden to breathe little fresh air. All of sudden she had beer seized by several men, who rushed from behind a shrub. In an instant they hao blindfolded and gagged her, and carried her to 8 carriage, which rapidly drove off with her. Then she had become rn , conscious, and, when she awoke again she had found herself in the cabin of { r ship, which was rocking in the waves To her dismay, Maurice Kervel was tht . first person who entered her cabin. H. r told her coolly that he had long ago lef the naval service of France, and wa. 3 now master of bark in the Levan trade. She implored him to restore , her to liberty, which he refused, inform ing her at the same time that she would villa in thE environs of Alexandria ant
 he threatened to kill her in case sh' l. should attempt to escape. Her prayers - her tears, her despair were unavailing
 and, trusting to meet by-and-by with al Y opportunity to communicate with he = friends, she followed Kervel to Alex n andria The house to which he tool h her was situated about three mile a from the city it was we'll furnished a and she was well treated, except tha F she was not allowed to leave the place f A very strict surveillance was kept owe :: her by the servants, whose languag > she was unable to understand. She be :. gan already to despair, when Nerve s one day told she must go with him III j. the Nile. Two days afterward h f brought her to the country palace of t wealthy Egyptian, Balan Bey. and t e her horror, she found that Kervel ha' 1T ceded her to him, and that she wa 1T henceforth to be the inmate of an Ori @ ental harem filled with Egyptian an A Abyssinian women, who looked wit j. decided aversion upon the fair new
 conner. For four months she endure
 all the horrors of this life, when sh