American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-04-11
A Complicated Matrimonial A fair.

| THE philosophy of domestic history in
| wolves many problem in real life tina
would be secuted as extravagantly i'm
practicable in fiction, and the peculiarly
| facile genius of social and legal institu
| tions in the United States seems notably
favorable to the development of such
curiosities. Thus, a jury in Portland,
| Me, has recently disagreed, and thereby
necessitated a new trial, in a case of al
! legged mistaken identity, the parties to
which are q gentleman who claims an
| other persons wife as his own, and the
lady who firmly and indignantly denies
that she ever even saw the claimant be-
fore. Mrs. Waite, wife of highly-re-
spectacle citizen of that name, is the lady
in question, and the claimant of her mar
ital allegiance, who is from another part
of the country, persists that he once mar
ried and was deserted by her, and brings
letters and witnesses in proof thereof.
She, on the contrary, is sustained by hus-
band, children, old friends and acQuaint-
ances in utterly denying all knowledge
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 anoma-
lous legal complications of case in San
Bernardino, Cal, of which the following
are the chief facts: In 1872, an English
man named Oades came thither from
Australia, and purchased a farm in Temes-
cal Township, representing that he had
experienced bitter domestic bereavement
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 having given her the tragic
history of his past life. About six
years before he had been thrifty farmer
in Wellington County, New Zealand, on
the frontiers of the seditious Maori
country. During his absence from home
one day on short journey of business,
while his wife and several children were
alone in the house, a band of savage
MaOris devastated the place, and left the
buildings in smoking ruins. Upon his
return he found only heaps of smolder-
ing embers and ashes in the place
where the homestead had stood; and
charred human fragments in the dread
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 captives; but
weeks, months and even years of pitiful
waiting and inquiring never sustained
the possibility. AT last the inconsolable
man had gathered what little worldly sub
stance 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 need
ed no further information from him when,
in year after the marrlage-or only a few
weeks ago-the first Mrs. Oades and three
children arrived at the farm in search of
husband and parent. The woman and
little ones had been made prisoners in
stead of being killed by the Maoris; the
remains found in the smoking ruins Were
those of savages who were slain by each
other in fight for the spells; and after
captivity of years the hapless Mrs Oades
and her children had finally been released