Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1875-05-15
RDST0WN JEFFERSON COUNTY, VIRGINIA. SATURDAY MAY I 1875
Nfue year. WITHOUT q Word.

1He 1Toy [Fess teiis tue ioiio"iusS =
strange story concerning the husband
of a lady who died recently in West
Troy: r
The lady and gentleman referred to
were married about twenty years ago,
and came to West Troy shortly after,
and lived there together until the death
of the wife. The latter was most in-
dustrious, highly respectable, and re-
ligious woman. For the first ten years
of her married life, during which FIVE
children were born, she did everything Z
possible for woman TO DO in order to
please her husband, but to no purpose.
When she did her best her husband
was sure to make out that she had done
her worst. He grumbled continually,
but at times he would break out and
pour upon his wife the most unmerited
abuse, continuing it for several days to-
gether. Then would intervene a ST.
lence broken only by his seeking an OPP
portunity to give his wife a beating
when nobody was in sight, and when
she least expected it. After he had
abused her he would bring in the neigh
bors and say to them that his wife had
fallen and hurt herself, poor creature;
how sorry he was for it; and he would
address her as "My DEAR and ask if
she was badly hurt, and be would run
for doctor: He was so plausible and
kind and affectionate that nobody would
believe his wife when she told that IL
was her husband who had caused her
the injuries. The neighbors thought
her crazy, or at least bysterical, when
she made her statements of this kind.
For long time he managed to beat his
wife, and TO conceal it in this way.
Indeed it had reached point, the wife
taking these fits so often, that the ar
were all but completed to
send the poor woman to an insane asy-
lum. One day, however, the broken
hearted wife was sitting by the cradle,
in which was her youngest child, a ba-
by, rocking it and attending to some
sewing at the same time. Her husband
was in one of his silent moods at the
time. While she sitting as described,
the husband entered and passed through
the house into the yard. He returned
within few minutes, but in the interim
a neigboring lady had entered and gone
into an adjoining bedroom. This lady
observed him walking up quietly be-
hind his wife, and without uttering a
word or giving the least warning,
doubled his fist and struck her tre-
mendous blow on the back of the head,
leaving her sprawling on the floor in
sensible This done, he at once ran
out to bring the neighbors as usual, and
affected the greatest concern about his
wife, wondering how much she was
hurt, and finally proposed to go for the
DOCTOR The lady who had secreted
herself in the bedroom accused him OF
the assault and when he was gone for
the doctor she weht for the police aud
had him arrested. His wife appeared
in court and told the whole story Of her
husbands cruelty toward her, but wo-
man-like begged 'thes4curt to forgive
him. Her request, however, was de-
MED, and the cruel husband had TO Ian
guish several months in Jail. On leav-
ing the dock, after receiving sentence,
he turned to his wife and said that she
had wronged him by what she had tes-
tilted to, but to remember that he would
never speak to her again on earth.
This scene occurred nine years ago.
The man served out his sentence and
returned to his family. From the day
of his return until two days before her
death, which took place recently, he
never exchanged word with her di-
rectly: 1t was necessary, living to-
getber as they were, husband and wife,
the parents of the same children, TO
have an interchange of sentiments re-
gardiDg the affairs of the household oc-
casionally. This was done in the fol-
lowing manner: When they were SIT
ting in the same room the husband
would tell one of the children to say so
and so to the mother. The mother
would answer directly, which, if it re-
quired further answer, would be done
through the child as before. But il
was only when he was in particularly
happy moods that he would even com
municate in this way. His most usual
mode of communicating TO his wife
what he wanted to say was tor him to
retire into a separate room, and thence
issue his mandates through one OF the
children. Two days before the wife
died, after she bad been sick for some
weeks, her condition was made known
to him, when he was working IN the
garden, by the doctor in attendaace aud
the clergyman who had been called in.
He was told that his wife was on the
verge of death, and that he must make
his peace with her while she was yet
concious. The idea of death seemed 10
stagger him. lie was silent for a mo-
ment, and then bursting into tears, re-
paired to the deathbed of his wife. lie
bent over her and begged her forgive
ness in bitter plants and tears The
dying woman grasped his hand, and
calling him by name, said she freely
forgave him all, and added that she
was now prepared TO die, being at
peace with the whole world. A few
hours before death the wife said--and
they were the last words she was beard
to utter-''that last two days, with her
husband never away from her bed side
but wien he Ieftto serve her, bad been
the happiest days of her life, and that