Mexico weekly ledger., 1876-12-14
An Insane woman's Freaks.

AL 1n6GhO LAG y EIC6hSs -
The Wilmington (Del.) correspond
emit of the Philadelphia Times writes:
Last September an elegantly dressed
woman applied at the Clayton House,
in this city, for board. This was given.
qer, and she created quite a sensation
by her dazzling display of jewelry ,styl-
ish dressing and her superior CONVEX
sational powers. She registered as
Mrs. Abigail Fellows, and said that she
was the wife of the Hon. Richard Eel
lows, Assistant District-Attorney of
New York. This increased the interest
in the stranger. But a few days had
elapsed when the proprietor, Mr.. Pyle,
noticed that her actions were strange,
and he came to the conclusion that his
guest must be insane or very much adj
dicted to drink. In a fortnight after
her arrival she set fire to her room and
came near burning the whole place.
The proprietor telegraphed to District
Attorney Fellows to know what dispo-
sition should be made of his wife, and
that gentleman t~elegraphed back that
he was a bachelor. She became so
much under the influence of liquor that
cAS AAOUOA PAopAACUO1 obUCh1PGCA w O1S~
possess her of ten bottles of liquor con-
tanned in her trunk, and for this she
boxed his ears. By instructions from q
New York lawyer she vas put in an in
sane asylum here, and after two weeks
treatment was released. She afterwards
haunted the different hotels, and at
length rented house in Shipley Street,
where she lived alone, drinking inces-
sanity and startling the neighborhood
with screams and the breaking of win
dow glass. The neighbors rushed in
and were driven out at the point
of the pistol, with which she was
always armed. Every ring at her door
was answered at the point of a seven
shooter, and visitors of any kind who
called upon her were compelled to
fly for their lives. On pleasant days
she walked ON the roof of the house
with a. bed quilt drawn around
her shoulders, and intently reading
a book. She bought the most costly
books, and with a book firm here made
one bill of $50, her selections including
such works as "The Mikado's En-
pre- "Sanfrey's History of Napo-
leon" Schiller's Thirty Years. War;"
and others. The proprietor of the
house, having read an account in the
New York newspapers OF the arrest OF
a woman there named Abigail Hunter,
who correspondent in description with
his tenant, yesterday entered the place
and found that she had gone. The
walls were perforated with bullet-holes
in the two little rooms where she had
lived, the bed clothing was tumbled
about, empty demijohns and bottles
were scattered about the place. Let
tiers from the Manhattan Savings Bank,
of New York, were found, recognizing
her drafts for large amounts, and re-
ceipted bills for diamonds, laces, etc.
She must have left here in an early
train for New York on Saturday morn
ing, as she was seen on Friday even
ing at one of the windows of the house.
The history of the woman is a re-
markable one. She came to Washing
ton twenty odd years ago from New
York City with her father, Isaac Hun
ter, who was a baker. He moved back
to New York when the girl was IA, and
she grew into a beautiful woman, and
afterwards married a wealthy block
ade-runner named Bates, VINO was cap
tured with one of his vessels, was
thrown into prison, and died. The
young wife's mind was unsettled at
once, and soon afterward the
father of her husband died
in Belfast, Ireland, and left his
fortune of several thousand pounds
sterling to this girl, who made a tour of
England, France, Ireland, and Scot
land, in the hope that the change
would settle her mind. During all
this time she received the tutorship of
a competent instructor, and returned
an intelligent woman But her mind
was far from being settled. She had
lucid intervals, and in these periods
~conversed well, and two years ago
while in this state offered to buy a farm
and settle her father upon it, which she
did, in Caroline County. Maryland, near
a place called Ridgeley, but last sum-
mer she tried to cut her fathers throat
and he had to run for his life. She con-
tinued to live in the place until Sep
TENDER, having the choicest wines and
brandies sent her from New York, and
remained there until last September,
when she came here.