Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-05-15
The IdyI of battle Creek.
A woMAN's RIGHTS LECTURER LEAVES
HER HUSBAND FOR AN AFFINITY.
DETROIT. Mich. MAY

DETROIT, Mich, May 5.
The female suffragists all over the
country, and especially those of the
West, will be somewhat interested in
and scandalized by the new departure
of Mrs. H. nj. Brinkerhoff, one of the
most prominent advocates of the cause
in this part of the Union. The facts in
the case are as follows:
Some months ago Mrs. J. B. Squiers,
the wife of rather good-looking, very
agreeable, and somewhat intellectual
shoemaker of Battle Greek, where Mrs.
Brinkerhoff resides, fell sick. Mrs.
Brinkerhoff nursed her through the i'll
ness, and seems to have formed vio-
lent passion for her husband, which he
returned Squiers induced his wife, af-
ter her recovery, to mortgage their house
and lot, take their three children and
start for the East. She accordingly de-
parted, leaving Mrs. Brinkerhoff to keep
house for her husband. Soon after her
departure Mrs. Brinkerhoff left on
lecturing tour. Squiers left at the same
time on business and returned with her,
leaving the impression on the public
that they had Travelled together. Thus
the scandal commenced. 1t soon attain
ed such headway that Mrs. Brinkerhoff
was compelled to pay it some attention,
and consequently announced public
lecture on the subject at the hall of the
Battle Creek Spiritualist Association on
the Goth ult. The Spiritualists, howev-
er, refused her the use of the hall, and
she was compelled to speak from a
flight of steps She justified her rela-
tions with Squiers, for whom she was
keeping house, and affirmed her right to
live in a house with one man or a dozen
men at her own will. She added that
she intended to leave town with Squiers
and room at the hotel with Squiers, and
that if anybody wanted further infor-
nation as to the relations between her
self and Squiers he or she might dog
them and spy out their actions. She
loved Squiers and intended to marry
Squiers, but had committed no immoral
act with Sqnires. Her harangue was
/ here interrupted by the gentleman on
whose door steps the lady was speak
! ing, who ordered her to leave. She left,
but announced lecture at the Opera
/ House tonight, which will probably in
! crease the sensation.
What part Mrs. Squiers has in the
transaction or how she regards it cannot
/ be said. Mrs. Brinkerhoff's friends are
scandalized and wish her to abandon her
/ affinity. but she refuses to do so, but
her husband, with whom she has not
I lived for five or six months past, justi-
ties her and wants her to marry Squiers.
The correspondence between Mrs.
/ Brinkerhoff and her sister has been un-
earthed and contains the story of her
passion for Squires, narrated with all
the gush and glow of this school of free
lovers and female litterateurs. She says
that the ''stars in heaven had all gone
out" one day, and she was so ''physi-
cally unbalanced" that she could neither
study nor lecture and so did not know
how to support herself and pay her
debts In thi1 mood she met Squiers
and told hin4 thai she must love somc
body in order to save her life. She did
not ask any one to love her, but she
wanted a savior and so must find some
body who would allow her to love him.
She asked Squiers if he were man enough
to accept the situation and love her
without forgetting his duty to his
family. He answered that g she
might love him as much as she liked, .
until she found some object more wOr-
thv She concluded her letter by say
ing that she wants to hear nothing more
from her family about it, as they can.
not understand how vital the question
is. and adds:
MIR Squires is the only man in Bat.
tie Creek who has lived among the star:
enough, whose ideas are high enough
to keep me company. He is SO infinite,
Iv above ordinary individuals, so mucl
more grand, more divine, more appre
ciative than the mass around him, that
ii would indeed be strange if he were
understood. l understand him. Wher
the sun refuses to light and warm thu
earth shall refuse to love him-not be
fore"
So ends for the present the idyl o
Battle Creek, Mich. Correspondence "
, Y. WGrid.