West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1877-09-15
Adventures Of n Runaway WIFI.

About ten years AGO the wife of Am1i
;. Timer, q prosperous millet OF Winches-
ter, Pa, eloped With a sotiuR hiau tanned
George Mills, a clerk i'm the store of IIri
Gates, father of Mrs Timer. The match
between Miss Gates and Timer was made
by her father against his daughter's
wishes. She desired 60 marry voting
Mills, She had been married less than :,
month when the elopcmcnt took binte.
The runaways were followed by the hus-
band as far rs Wheeling, West Virginia.
There all trace of them was lost. and
nothing was heard of them aftorward.
In 1870, Gates, the father of the runa.
way wife, died. lie made a will leaving
his property, valued at 100000, to Timer,
the daughter having been his only child.
There was in the will II provision that if
any news should be heard of the daughter
within two years after her father death.
anu she WAS in want, she Was to receive
the interest on $4,000 for one year at
seven per cent, to be paid i'm installments
oi ten dollars week If, at the end of
year after her being found, she had
not voluntarily returned home and
begged her husbands forgiveness, no
further claim of hers bh the estate was
TO bc allowed. In the event of her being
with Mills. il found within the two
years, she could have no claim agninst
the estate. If she returned rcpcntant
within year, the executors of the will
were To provide her suitable home and
allow her ten dollars week as long as
she lived. The executors were AMI :.
Timer and Myron Pool, Il cousin of the
testator
Timer made every effort To find some
trace of his long missing wife, but fail
ing, procured n divorce from her i'm 1872
and married again. His second wife
died in 1875, leaving him two children.
On the 23d of July last letter addressed
to MIR. Gates, and poetmarked bitchheld,
Mimi, was Handed MIR. Pool, as one of
the executors of the estate of the
deceased. 1t proved to be from the runa-
way wife and daughter 1t breathed II
spirit of repentance, and declared that
the writer was anxious, after ten years
of suffering, to ask forgiveness of those
she had wronged and be permitted to
come home, if only to he servant
Pool went with the letter To Mr.. Timer
The latter resolved To go at once To
Litchfield. He was dihbahied by Mr.
Pool. On Wednesday last Timer and the
wife who had deserted him ten years ago,
and whom he had found working as II
seamstress in Litch6cld family, arrived
i'm Elmira, where he has relatives. The
story of his wife's life since she left him
satisfied him that, while she had com.
promised both his and her honor, she
was Moro sinned against than SHINING,
and they were remarked in st. Paul ON
the 4th inst The runaway wife's story
Is substantially as follows
She accompanied George Mills only
as far as Wheeling. There he left her
To go to -. Louis. She then weat to
Indiana. She refused to become the
companion of Mills until she could
legally become his wife. He had five
hundred dollars. He gave her two hun
drcd. She went to Lafayette, Indiana,
where she obtained divorce, through
the agency of divorce lawyer named
Bowditch, being In the place but few
months. Mills, meantime, had gone to
the plains, and brought up in Central
City, Colorado. She joined him there,
and they were married. Mills made
considerable money by supplying miners
with stores, and they lived contentedly
together for year. Then Mills fell into
the habit of gambling; he squandered
all his gains, and his business passed into
other hands They then went 20 Utah.
Mills got position as a mining clerk at
Corinnc, and for time was steady in
his habits The life of clerk was not
stirring enough for him, however, and
he finally resigned the position and
went to Salt Lake City. There, i'm
company with miner named Olney he
opened faro bank. He began drinking,
and abused his wife. To cap the climax
of her misery Mills joined the Mormons,
and added two more wives 10 his family.
This indignity the unfortunate woman,
who had left her home and friends for
mills, could not brook, and one night, in
1871, she ran away from his house, and
after months of hardship reached Den
yer. She was year and half i'm that
place, working in hotel. While there
she read the account Of the killing of
George Mills in Salt Lake City by his
partner, Bill Olney, while quarrcling in
their gambling saloon.
In 1873 she engaged as waiting maid to
an English lady who was travelling with
party in the Rocky Mountains She
visited New Mexico. the Spanish Peak
and all the principal points of interest
Whereabouts, with the party, returning
TO Denver in 1874. There she left the
party, and started East. She was
prostratcd with fever in St. Louis, and
all Of her money was used up before she
WAS able 10 leave. She then engaged as
travelling companion to a Mrs Van
Alta of New Jersey, who, with her
husband, was going to Minnesota for her
health. They travelled through that
State until September, 1876, when Mrs.
Van Alta died, in the vicinity Of Itaska
lake. Having some money, she deter
mined to return to her old home. On
the way from the lakes to the railroad
some fifty miles, she was robbed by her
guide, a half-brecd Indian. She walked
thirty miles 10 Brainerd on the Missis-
dppi, and had been working ~ a seam
stress in different towns thercabOuts ever
since. Her health failing, she feared
she would die in strange land before
she had told her story TO her father and
received his forgiveness, and she wrote
the letter that resulted in so unexpected
n sequel 10 her ten years bitter ex-
periencc. Mr.. and Mrs. Timer left
Elmira on their return to their old
home, apparently rs happy as il there
had never been shadow in their lives.
PRINCE GORTCBAKoFF is described as
a little old woman of man very much
like NJ. Theirs" and only one year
younger. lie wears spectacles and talks