The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1874-03-31
ROmances of Life.

pAaOblOaplo III uCIlOu, anu bue pbCuildrly
facile genius Of social and legal institutions
in the United States seems notably favora-
BILE to the development of such curiosities.
Thus, jury in Portland, Me-, has recently
disagreed, and thereby necessitated new
trial, in u case Of alleged mistaken identi-
! ty, the parties to which are a gentleman
who claims another PERSONS wife as his
own, and the lady who firmly and indig-
nantly denies that she ever even saw the
claimant before. Mrs. Waite, wife of
highly respectable citizen of that name, is
the lady in question, and the claimant of
her marital allegiance, who is from another
part Of the country, persists that he once
married and was deserted by her, and
brings letters and witnesses in proof there
of. She, on the contrary, is sustained by
husband, children, old friends and ac-
quaintances, in utterly denying all knowl-
edge Of the man and, as the disagreement
of the jury shows, the evidence on both
sides is so strong as to battle the average
Of human sagacity to decide the astound-
ing problem.
But yet more surprising are the anomal-
GUS legal complications of case in San
Bernardino, California, of which the fol-
lowing are the chief facts. In 1872, an
Englishman named Oades came thither
from Australia and purchased a farm in
Temescal township; representing that he
had experienced bitter domestic bereave-
ment and pecuniary loss in the land whence
he came, and exhibiting great dependency
| of spirit in consequence. In January of
the following year he wooed and won
comely and highly respectable widow of
San Bernardino, named Foreland, but not
without giving her the tragic history of
his past errors. About six years before he
had been thrifty farmer in Wellington
County, New Zealand, ON the frontiers of
the seditious Maori county. During his
absence from home one day, on short
journey of business, while his wife and sew
eral children were alone in the house,
band of savage Maoris devastated the
place, and left the buildings in smoking
ruins. Upon his return he found only
|
the place where the homestead had stood ;
and charred human fragments in the dread
full wreck left him no hope but that his
whole family had been butchered by the
pitiless destroyers. 1t seemed, indeed,
barely possible at first that some Of the
victims had been carried off captive but
weeks, months, and even years of pitiful
waiting and inquiring never sustained the
possibility. AT last the inconsolable man
had gathered together what little worldly
substance was left to him, and emigrated
to California, and now told the story of his
calamities to her whom he besought to be
his second wife. Thus Mrs. Foreland knew
what Oades had suffered before she gave
him her hand in wedlock, and needed no
further information from him when, in a
year afte: the marriage-or only few
weeks ago-the first Mrs. Oades and three
children arrived at the farm in search of
husband and parent! The woman and the
little ones had been made prisoners, in
stead of killed, by the Maoris the human
remains found in the smoking ruins were
those of savages who were slain by each
other in fight for the spoils; aud after a
captivity of years, the hapless Mrs. Oades
and her children had finally been released,
and followed their natural protector to
California.
Upon hearing the piteous tale from the
poor wanderers, Oades and his second wife
were of one mind about what to do in the
matter. They would not relinquish their
own union, for it had been entered into in
perfect good faith on both sides, and was
justified by the mutual devotion it had de-
veloped; but the desolute newcomers
must be received into the house as legiti-
mate members of the family, and receive
all the amends that could possibly be made
for their anomalous condition.
Not so, though, decided the good people
of San Bernardino, who, on being frankly
told of the domestic situation, insisted that
there must be divorce TO accommodate
affairs to civilized form. As neither oades
nor either of the Mrs. Oades would move
in the matter, the public prosecuting at
torney was constrained TO institute legal
proceedings. And then began the judicial
perplexities of the problem. According to
the Los Angeles Erpress, the husband was
first sued for retaining the woman from
Australia under his roof. He proved that
she was his lawful wife, and the suit was
abandoned. A suit was then brought
against him for unlawfnlly living with
wffe number two He was acuuitted ,,nder