South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1877-04-06

Fonlton. the Fluke MaGiltler Of the
heyennc Sun, who.is doing a weeks
service on the Laramie Scafinel. contrib.
utes an interesting scrap or romance in
real life 70 Caliph Nye's paper. concern.
ing an apple woman Who has been ped
.,iing IN The streets Of the Magic City
Tor eight years. The story is as follows.
and those who are Interested in such
storms may rea,i it Tor themselves:
Miss Amelia M. Barrett's maiden
namc was RUSSELL. She was born in
Raleigh. North Carolina, 1909. and ia
therefore. about sixty.cight years old.
Her parents moved In what may DO
termed the upper walks Of life. her faith.
or being lawyer Of prominence, who
az one time was member OF the Su.
preme Court OF North Carolina. In
1928. when Amelia was about nineteen
y,ears OF sgc. sl,o remoycsl-.uikh ber-ss,
rents TO Wheeling, Virginia. where her
tathcr's hne legal attainmcnts mt on,c
placed the family in social communica.
ton with the +. +. VS.. of the Old Do
minion-Virginia. .the Mother OF Pre-.
sidents." Previous TO Amelia's removal
to that State. however, the best ednca.
tional advantages had been bestowed
upon her which the "Oid Tarhccr' State
ut that early day furnished. In the
reigning society OF Wheeling, she was a
belle-the acknowledged peer Of any
lady in that city. She had many nd
mirers. but as the time wore away. there
were none against whose persuasive ap.
pca's she was powerless to turn a deaf
ear. When to all appearances, she was
wooed and WON'T. was her province to be
with them like an ignus fat,us-a will o.
the wisp. Her blithesome and CAV dis.
position led her to act from her heart
what her lips dared not speak
81 happy coul,l be with either,
Were tothcr fair charmer away.p
While thus living round of social
enjoyment her father met with financial
embarrassmcnts, which wrecked his
princcly fortune, aud his grief hurried
him TO an untimcly grave, soon to be
followed by the broken hearted wife of
his bosom. The pledges of their mar.
ried life were scattered; Amelia re.
manned in Wheeling and obtained en-.
pioymen. rs governess. In 1881 the
acquaintance OF q Wheeling Banker,
Harold b. Barrett, who knew her In her
better days, resulted in their marriage.
She was then TWENTY-FIVE years of age,
Barrett was soon after elected to the
Virginia State Senate, from which he
merged into Congress, serving during
The last two years OF his second term oil
Jackson's administration. Local com.
plications at Wheeling consp red against
him and defeated him for denomination
to Congress. His influence with tho
Secretary of State. resulted soon after
in his appointment rs minister to Peru,
where after representing the United
States Government less tEan year. he
sickened and died from a nialarious
disease prevalent in that country.
The wife CT his bosom. tho "Auntyv
Barrett now in Cheyenne, was living in
Baltimore with widowed sister at the
time of his death. Little by little her
means ofsupport faded away a. the mis-.
OF the morning. She lived in penury
and wandered from one place TO another
tossed like q football upon the worlds
great highway-taking in sewing Mt
times. peddling Mt others, until time and
tide in human affairs, which waits for
neither man nor woman, cast her lot in
cheyenne, arriving there eight years ago
last June. Since that time she has con.
stantly been engaged IN peddIing mp.
pies on the streets, in the saloons. no.
tells, stores. and, in fact, wherever she
conceived there existed On opportunity
to effect sale. She is now getting old
and feeble, being in the sixty.eighth year
Other age. Rarely ever communicative.
except on business pertaining TO her
calling, she has an eye 10 the main
chance, aud locks in her bosom the G..
vents which ut times undoubtedly are
printed upon The tablet of her memory.
Some call her miser--and perhaps not
unjustly-as she is known to have be-
tween seven and eight thousand dollars
deposited in Stehbins. Post & Co.'S bank
at Cheyenne.--Denrer (COl) Tribune.