Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-05-03
SUICIDE OF LIEUT.. DENNIsON.
MATCHED bat nos aEated- Some Donfes-
tie Scenes which are nos Altogether
LOveIy-Death Rather than DisOree;

California Is the stage in which many
life dramas commenced as comedies ind
trseical termination, and the dark curtain
fails on the scene forever. 1t is, In more
than a geographical sense, The 'Jumping-eh
plasej' ana the western slope OF the Sierra
Nevada seems To 70 peculiarly suggestive
of Sam Patch leaps into the 6hk-ra 81 eter-
nal forgeifulness.
Erasmus Dennison was the son Of ex-
Coz. BeRnison, of Ohio, and from position
and education 5n5 natural ability bad bril-
liant prospects. He was g.s.sested Ia the
United States Naval academy in tic slsss
OF 1866, and passed regularly into the
service. He was successfully promoted
through the various grades until be became
a lieutenant, and in 1870 he obtained a
years leave of absence to visit Europe.
the continent, aud was regarded as
brilliant young American officer.
Fashionable society opened its g0itsa
doors to him in France and Italy, and
Germany and Austria, and finally In the
Austrian capital he met Mrs. Selim E.
| Woodwork, wife of Com. Woodwork of
the navy, and lady who bad adorned soci
ETY. IN San Francisco while the Commodore
| " 80 oItAbtOuCQ Ou IAtC dCluc COdSls LII l1Cts
| Com. Woodwork was obliged to remain
permanently il California to look after his
immense estates, and permitted bis beauti-
fal and fascinating wife and her two chill
dren TO travel where they pleased in a st lie
| becoming their great wealth. She was
| spending season amid the gayeties
OF Vienna, and while reigning as a
| Queen in the circle Lieut.. DeDnison met her.
I ntot- Al
| lives seemed uncOnsciously to blend, and
finally the young lieutenant becsme the
| constant companion Of Mrs. Woodwork,
and an inmate of her house. She was 80
and rich and sparkling, but married: he
was Is and gay and adventurous and sin
gle. They travelled together and were
thenceforth inseparable in Europe. At
length they received intelligence of
! Commodore WoOdworth's death in San
| Francisco. This was two years ago. They
! returned TO the United States on the
same vessel, and separated in New York
| she to California across the continent; be TO
| his post in the navy. After attending to
some business matters connected with the
family estates, Mrs. Woodwork returned
to New York and took up her residence
| there. Six months thereafter the fashion,
able world in New York was startled, and
that of San Francisco vas astonished by
the marriage OF Lieut.. Erasmus
Dennison and Mrs. Lnssetta Wood
worth. The relatives and friends of both
parties had protested against the uni5n, but
in vain, and the father Of Dennison there
after would not recognize his son nor the
wife he had chosen. The funeral meats
did not exactly furnish the marriage feast,
but the odor of the cooking was still
around and drove away many Of the &C
quaintances of both families from the new
household. Even then the shadows began
to fall around them, and the sunshine of
welded bliss had gusty tinge.
Mrs. Dennison soon resolved to return TO
San Francisco to look after her pecuniary
interests; and to have her husband near
her, she arranged that lie should be trans
ferred to the .SdrGnac on the Pacific coast.
Then the pair bied them to San Fran isco
and set up an establishment, which they
hoped would bring happiness and content.
But there were O'her clouds, and they
brought storms and long seasons Of disa- |
greeable social weather.
Mrs. Dennison had un6ittingly sacrificed |
a large interest in the Commodore's proper |
ty and some control in the management of |
it by her basiy second marriage, and was in |
continual bot water on these accounts. She |
was Tot so rich as she. and her young hus- |
band expected 20 be, and The ugly demon,
Economy, came into their house as per- |
maEent meuber Of the fImily. Dennison |
Wanled style, and Mrs. DeDnison could not |
afford it, and this situation made chamber |
chickering's and parlor spats, and then |
it sometimes rained on the lace handker- |
chiefs, and rustliDg silks, and rosewood fur |
piture, and Turkish carpets. The mirrors |
did not reflect bright faces, and the cur
tsins were drawn and the home darkened. |
Then there was another thing that bred
misery. Lieut.. Dennison got surfeit Of |
water at sea. When be came ashore
he took to wine as a change and
the wine took to his head and made him
ugly and disagreeable. These expensive
habits consumed his pay in the service, and
besides, more money than his wife could
well afford with grirn-vissgad economy ct
her elbow casting up accounts and striking
balances. She withheld her purse, and
then her husband withheld his person, and
the widowed wife sat alone brooding over
her s1rrOYs. She still loved him, but the
love brought no happiness and in fact de-
stroyed her peace.
This kind of life must have an end. Il
is slow death while it lasts, aud ROOFS up
souls when it stops. But the end comes
and it is always tragic. One day, after a
violent parlor storm, Dennison went to an
sp0thecary ard asked for q phial Of deadly
poison. The druggist saw that be had been
drinking poison already, and did not like
bis manner. He flied a Phisl, how
ever, and the desperate man carrie
the elixir Of peace home. He en-
tered the parlor and sent for his
wife. He had few parting words with
her, not all kindness, and announced his
sovereign remedy for all their troubles. He
hen produced the Phial, and, drinking off
its contents before the terrified wife could
lay down on satin sofa TO die.
There was terror in the house. A servant
ook the labelled bottle TO Tie druggist who
prepared and sold the potion and be laugh
ID outright at the little incident. He init
mated that barrel ofthat stuff would rot kill
fly, and babe the girl go in peace, and
.ssure her mistress that the dose was
harmless. Lieut.. Denpison did not die.
lie waited for the dark messenger, who
vas more lovely to him than economy, but
le did not knock at his life's door. There
vas some noise about this little family af- S
air, and the comments were not eompli- !
nentary to the DO d lieutenant, as it was
tinted that he had tried to frighten his wife {
ntO terms with a sham. He
vent sullenly aboard his ship--She Z
aranac-- and sailed in a day or !
wO for cruise on the coast of Mexico. c
he ship was gone several months, and 8
7hile she had gone Mrs. Dennison had /
much time to reflect. The Saranac return 4
d on Thursday, April II. Lieut. DENIM
on came ashore and repaired TO his wifs's
asidercp. She was gone aud the house ?
yaS in the hands of an agent for rent. Up. I
L inquiry he learned that Mrs. Dennison .
ad voluntarily put herself in h
Military custody, and was then under the
rejection of Brig Gen. John Hewston, Jr.,
the Second brigade, National
uard of California. His first impulse was
} sue out writ of hebeas corpus, but he
naily concluded TO rescue Mrs. d. himself.
lie failed to find her, but an agent who =
'as looking for him put into his hands this =
tier:
SAN FRANCISCO, April II, 1873.-Lieut.
). d 1nnison, U. S. Steamer Saranac-Sir: a
'uring Your absence have long and pain
lily considered orr relations of the past
w rDoDfbS II will marianne no no err,1r;ea | a