The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1876-05-25
A QUEER FRAUD.


and Dumb Man at Manchester, ohio.
[From the Cincinnati Enquirer
And now Manchester, Ohio, comes to
the front with q sensation. 1t Is not a
blood-curdling one, nor is there much
Beecherism in it, yet it is a sensation.
The facts In the case, MS near rs VIC IA
get at them, are about MS follows
Some years ago q we~ll-dressed, prepos-
sessing young man, who introduced
himself rs MIR. Avery, went to that vii
lage and registered at the leading hotel.
He was II handsome-appearing young
man, and never was known to utter an
oath or n profane word. In short, he
was deaf and dumb, q fact that did not
prevent him from playing the agreea-
bic or making love, in the most ortho-
dox fashion, to the reigning bellies of
that region. He % established quite
a reputation rs a lady-killor among the
fair demoiseiies, and what soft things
he was unable to say with his tongue
he uttered but too ~eloquently with his
expressive eyes. Cupid smiled upon
his %endeavors, and his lovc-making at
length eliminated in his leading to the
altar one of the loveliest Of Blanches-
ter's fair daughters, %and-what wa
more to the point and to our story-an
heiress in her own right to 100000. Not
a response did he respond while the
ceremony was being performed, nor did
he ever intimate that he could talk UNI
til he had taken a position on the dane
ing-iloor at the grand ball given in their
honor, when he betrayed the fact that
he had been acting a living lie, and
could speak and hear AS well MS the best
of them. His new-made bride was only
too glad to discover nj additional charm
in her hearts chosen one, and her
love for him only strengthened with the
discovery. He managed in some way
to explain his almost unaccountable
actions, and satisfied her relatives with
some plausible story of n vow binding
him to silence until u given time-his
marriage. The newly welded pair soon
settled down to the humdrum routine
of practical married life, and Mr.. and
Mrs. Avery were the models Of connu-
bal bliss. With his wife's money, the
model husband entered into business
and was to Il degree prosperous and
thriving. Two children were born unto
the pair and they were gliding down
life's titful stream, n staid steady couple,
beloved of each other and respected by
their neighbors.
And now comes the sequel. About
three weeks ago Mr.. Avery was taken
i'll, g%rievously i'll, sick unto death, we
might say, and his family and friends
gathered around his bedside to hear his
last words, and see him pass over to the
Golden Shore. lie struggled hard with
the grim monster Death and piteously
besought the physicians to afford him
relief, and SAVE him to his family. All
the aid that human means could devise
was extended to him, but without effect,
and he was informed that his end was
near. Then it was that he told the story
of his life. With choked utterance and
tear-filled eyes he admitted he had de-
ceived his trusting wife, his contiding
friends, and had been living a false and
untrue life. His right name, he said,
was Iieglcr, and he already had Il wife
and three children when he was mar
ried at Manchester under the name of
Avery. He gave his first wife's address
and asked that she might be telegraph
ed and some atonement made for the
neglect and suffering he had caused her.
He said he was a Major in an Ohio
regiment, had served with distinction
during the late war, and had been hon
orably mustered out as n brevet Col
onel. He gave no reason why he de-
serted his wife and little ones, and was
prevented by weakness from explaining
his freak of playing the mute. He soon
after died and was buried with all
honors.
In due curse of time the first wife ar
rived, and, establishing her identity took
evidence of her husbands death. She
didn't make much of a to-do about the
matter, nor did she seem hcart-brokcn
at his demise. She was very calm about
the occurrence, and explained that she
was more DESTROYS of procuring the evil
dencc of his death and securing n PEN
sion of $4,000 that was in some way due
to him from the Government than of re-
calling him to life. After having attain
ed her object she quietly departed, leav-
ing her successor in %peaceable posses
sion of what of the worlds
goods had been accumulated from
the capital advanced at her mar
riage with Avery. The affair
has occasioned intense excileu en-
among the denizens of that usually
quiet village, and the sympathy of the
entire community goes out to the much
wronged and loving Mrs. Avery and her
unfortunate children. Nor do they
condemn Mrs. Ziegler, whom they re.
gard AS another victim to mans periidy,
What prompted his assuming to be
deaf and dumb, and SO successfully
carrying out the freak, will probably
never be known, but that the state,
ments written above are true is beyond
all doubt.
There is n basis for a Charles Rcadt
or n Wilkie Collins to write q novel,
and Il v%erification of the old adage, that
"truth is stranger than fiction"