Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-08-24
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
of the Bulletin.

UUk WASHlNGION LETTER..
Correspondence of the Bulletin.
WASHINGTON, D. c., Aug. II, II.
Mr.. Hayes trip to New England pro-
misses to be pleasant one, but he will
not have so many of his Cabinet with
him as originally contemplated. Our
Indian troubles were not Of such serious
nature as to demand the presence here
of the Secretary of War. Mr.. Sherman
is preparing in Ohio for a swing around
the political circle there, and cannot of
course leave for the present. Mr.. Schurz
is busted with his Indian Investigations,
hence Mr. Key, our big rebel, McCrary
and Evarts will do the principal honors
with the President. 1t is good idea to
take Judge Key around and exhibit him
as the tanned lion, for we are assured
that when the people look upon his
quiet, smiling, good natured face, sur
mounted with its close-cropped, bristling
hair strongly tinged with gray, they will
feel that he can. be as much trusted as
any other honest man, and that although
he felt impelled at one time to take up
arms against the Union, his heart is
now in the right place. Recently one
of his constituents from East Tennes-
see, one of the rip-roaring, half horse,
alf-alligator stripe, whose chief article
OF subsistence was juice Of the corn,
came up here seeking an office at his
hands. The East Tennesseean gave the
Judge a grand dinner, kindly per-
hitting your correspondent to share it,
and then insisted that certain 6 in .
should be ousted because he, the I" out, ~
wanted the place just to spite the fell
low" Judge Key, l am sorry to say,
was proof against this strong argument,
the soothing influences of nice dinner
and proffered bottle of pure corn juice,
and most unkindly sent the poor fellow
back home with a civil service reform
lecture for all his pains and expense.
By the way, this civil service reform af-
fords a complete dodge for the Cabinet
officers to rid themselves Of undesirable
office-seekers, and on this ground we of
course accept it. But in all other re-
spects, live rebel with all his kith and
kin would seem preferable as office hold
ers, and with Jacksonian sweeping
change every four years to that system
which would give an incumbent life
long lease. We served four years after
the war in the South and learned
to like an honorable fighting rebel and
believe him as worthy of trust as we
know Judge Key is. But we can't 60
civil service reform yet.
THE DIVORCE MARKET
is now very brisk and our Court dockets
indicate that hard times do not bar the
disconnected, who are seeking other
partners, from feeling lawyers and from
getting relief from the disability which
interferes with the proposed new mar
riage In all instances we believe an
application for divorce has another mar
riage in the background, at least such is
our experience here and that of Chica-
go. Recently the wife of e Gotham, .
one J. Q. Thompson, Western cores
pendent of the N. Y. Herald, applied for
divorce at indianapolis, but her prayers
were denied on the ground that she was
a citizen of the District of Columbia,
she being clerk in one of the Depart
ments. She Immediately applied here
and obtained decree at once. She eel
ebrated her release from her former ties
by remarrying, and that without waiting
until the end Of the term of the Court
which granted the divorce. Husband
No. l then filed bill praying that the
decree be set aside, alleging all kinds of
immortality against her and particularly
charging infdelity. He names one Ma
thaniel p. Banks, who however has
since peremptorily denied the allegation
The Judge set aside the decree under
the power given him by law to reverse a
decision at any time prior to the adjourn
ment, hence we have here lady with
two husbands, and of course an abund-
ance Of cOnnubial felicity after her
twelve hours Of single blessedness which
followed the divorce If the second hus-
band proves as worthless as the first, we
opine that Mrs. Thompson will realize
fully what it means jumping from the
frying pan into the fire, unless she seeks
relief again through the Courts While
Washington cannot equal Chicago in ia
cilities for speedy divorce, yet we can
offer the disconnected 8 right good
chance" of freedom. TO our surprise, one
OF our spiciest correspondents, r, W. c.
Mitchell, private secretary Of Mr.. Schurz
and who writes for the Danbury Ners
under the name of Bob Creighton, has
also applied for divorce on the alleged
ground of infdelity. He cites marriage
at Catholic church in Albany, n. Y.
the birth of three children, and subse-
quent immortality His bill is fearful
arraignment of a wife and mother, and
leaves us at loss to determine whether
he in retaining her in the position OF
wife has been destitute of that sense OF
right and wrong which enables every
husband to protect the honor of himself
and family by resort to law or bullet, OIL
whether he has permitted open, defiant
outrage in hopes that time would bring
separation without exposing his wrongs
to the world. Public sentiment permits
husband to take the law into his OWE
hands in dealing with the violator of his
household happiness, and Mr.. Michel
seems not to have desired an appeal tc
the higher law of our country, preferrine
rather peaceable measures which would
leave him and her free to follow theil
inclinations in the future Such, per
haps, is the better course. But with the
Sickles Il Key precedent before us, oul
people would prefer first-class shoot
ing sensation any day, to hum-drum
hackneyed resort to the Courts for di
vOrce. FELIX.
Awful Hard Times.
j. L. McCreery in Dubuque Times.
T