The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1877-09-01
THE LAST WASHINGTON SCANDAL.
what sort OF n Case it il With which
General Ranks 10 Mixed Up.

From Letter 10 the Hartford Times.
The gossips in the Treasury Depart
ment are all aGog over some scandalous
developments that have just been made
in the divorce case Of Martha G. Thomp-
son VS.. John @. Thompson, which has
been before tho Equity Court of this
District off and on since May last The
fair plaintiff is u well.known and hand
sonc "clerkess" in the Treasury De-
partment, who has been u general favor
ite with male and female in that depart
ment. She is very stylish and attractive.
Some years since IN an evil moment, it
appears, she married one John @.
Thompson, who is pretty weli-bnown in
the West az a newspaper correspondent.
At present he is running an anti-rail-
road paper in Indianapolis. He also got
into prominence az correspondent of
the New York Herald and Cincinnati
Commercial This man Thompson was
not the kind of man she thought he
was, says the plaintiff. and the defendant
responds by saying that she beat the
devil Several years since Mrs. Thomp-
son came to this city. She soon made
many friends, and without much diff
Guilty secured clerkship in the Treasury
Department. After that she secured
positions for several Of her relatives.
Her husbands business Kept him in the
West According to her showing he
turned out 10 be h very worthless kind
of fellow. They have repeatedly had
quarrels, and as last resort she went to
Indianapolis about year ago or less,
and iled an application for divorce.
The case Came up and was dismissed on
the ground that she was not resident
of that State, which it appears is neces-
sary before q divorce can be secured in
that State since its very free divorce
laws have been changed. Mrs Thomp-
son then came to this city and by her at
torney filed another application. Notice
was served on Thompson, but nothing
was heard from him. The case then
proceeded rs in default. Evidence of the
marriage WAS taken, as also the evidence
OF the plaintiff, telling the bad way in
which ste had been treated by Thomp-
son. A couple OF weeks ago Judge
Wylie, holding the Equity Court, which
in this District has jurisdiction in such
cases, granted the divorce, giving the
plaintiff the right to resume her maiden
name. and the custody of the two small
children The matter was kept very
quiet, and but few of her fellow-clerks
knew anything of her difficulties. Mrs.
Thompson was just about thanking her
stars that her troubles with the bad
Thompson we're over, when she was
notified that he had sent to the Court an
answer to her charges, and his objections
as demurrer to her receiving the asked
for divorce. Judge Wylie, on the appli-
cation of the counsel for the absent de-
tendant, resciDded the order granting
the divorce, and thus left the case open
again. In it he charges her with adultery
with numerous clerks in the Treasury
Department, giving names and details,
charging that the acts referred to were
committed in some of our most fashion
able boarding-houses. He also swears
that she has frequently held criminal in
tercourse with Nathaniel P. Banks, OF
Massachusetts,, in the St. Cloud Hotel,
OF this city. Then again he gives the
names of witnesses to prove every one OF
the charges, which but adds fuel to the
flame. Some of General Banks friends
called at the Court House to-day, and,
after reading the answer of Thompson,
ieleBraphed him the portions OF 1t that
implicate him. The answer of the Gem
eral, 1t is expected, will be received very
soon, and it is very probable that he will
give his evidence in full. All the other
parties (male and female) implicated
will be given an opportunity to have
their soy, and, as a result, the case
promises to raise the biggest social SEN
sation that We have had for a long time.
The several boarding. house keepers are
violent in the defense of the reputation
OF their houses and demand that they
shall have their say 1t may be added
that the courts of this District are be.
coming more famous for granting
divorces than even tho divorce courts Of
Indiana in their palmiest days. To.da,
two divorces were granted and one ap
piled for; but it frequently happens thai
four or five divorces are granted in one
day and as many applied for.