The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1878-03-19
DIVORCED.
A Strange and Thrilling Story
Brought to Light in . Recent Di-
vorce Suit.

A BAzoo reporter yesterday met gen
tleman from Joplin, who gave him The
particulars of one Of the most remarkable
divorce cases Of which We have ever heard.
The following is the story:
A lady sued for divorce in Joplin, ne
Gently, and when il came up the startling
developments Of which ve write we're
brought to light, and upon their strength
they were granted.
In 1853. the lady, then young and
handsome maiden,a reaident Of Stone coun.
", Southwest Missouri, married . worthy
Young man to shom she had long been en-.
gagged.
THEIR UNION
Was happy one, and - both had been
reared in the vicinity and were beloved
and respected BY all, they received the
kindesr benisons of all who knew them.
But the war was raging sround them
and their locality Vas alternately occupied
by each Of the contending armies. A
draft was about to he made, and the young
husband, month after his marriage, con.
cluded to take advantage Of the govern
men,'s liberal offers and enlist, rather than
run the risk Of being forced into it, ranks
without any emolument save the meagre
pay of private. So he voluntarily en-
listed and became private in the ranks
Of the Union army.
Hi. courage and intelligence soon gained
the respect of his officers and fellov-men,
and in several hard fought battles he dis
tinguished himself to such an extent that
his name vas forwarded to department
headquarters in st. Louis, and in short
time returned emblszoned in
SECOND LlEurExAxT's COMMISSION.
The regiment was then stationed in North.
ern Arkansas. and At this oPportuse mo-
nient, when he Was % near TO all he held
dear. flor son Vas born to him in his ab'
sence), he could not resist the temptation "a
obtain short leave Of absence and visit
hrs wife and child.
This to him highly priced boon VA
easily obtained, and with his commission
in his pocket he mounted his horse and
started Cor home With eager haste hs
pursued his Journey, his mind being filled
with bright visions Of happy meeting
With his hearts idols. At length the we'll
remembered landmarks came TO view.
lie vas close TO home!
A few hundred yards of the leafy forest
and he would Be ia the opening where
he could zee the smoke from the cot tina,
contained his treasures.
How he would surprise them!
How his wife would cry for Joy!
How this bright-eyed babe would -
"Halt !" came fierce order, in stentoriaI
tones, from the brush that surrounded th<
road. Ere he could rein in his horse il
obeyance to the dread summons, he was ..
If by magic surrounded BY twenty or thirt!
fierce and
, HEAVILY ARMED MEN,
whom his practiced eye quickly told hin
we're the most unrelenting foes that Oh
J uniform he wore ever had. His heart sanl
within him, brave as he was, for he kne,
there vas no mercy in the breast Of bush
whacker, for such they were.
A few questions were put TO him by th
leader Of the band, but they we're more fl
! forms sake than anything else. His uniform
5 was mute answer for all they wished
know, while from his pockets, which yer
rapidly turned inside out, was the commits
, sion drawn forth which made them NOR
eager for his blood.
The leader of the band was man nea
his own age, and to him he appealed, IN,
demanded that he he treated a. . prisone
of war. His request va, treated with de
rision, and . moment more his arms an
, legs we're pinioned, and an ominous rop
with a moose at It's end dangled from tn
limb Of an adjacent tree. Again he ar
pealed to his inhuman captors, and imPlore
, them to let him sec his wife and chill
! but for moment before he died. But eve
a. he duplicated, the leader put the fats
loop around his neck, gave q signal with hi
hand, and the unfortunate man was
SWUNG OFF INTO ETERNITY
. with prayer for his widowed vile and Of
: phaned child upon his lips.
The next day the corpse was Discovers
! swayins in the wind BY = passing soldier
, Who stopping at the next house (which hap
, pe,ed to be the home of the oficer) told III
/ won.r that there was a man hanging dea
, sho t distance down the road, and it "a
= better, perhaps, he should receive . chris
: tan burial. This vas not unfrequent new
in that locality, and nearly all the me-
being in the army the sad work OF interrin
: the dead and caring for the wounded de
. volved upon the lone women. And faith
/ fully and tenderly Vas it done. too, for the
| knew not but what their own loved one
: were being cared for in . similar name
3 far of in some distant State.
: So the woman procured the help of other
OF her sex who lived in the neighborhood
and together they proceeded on their s.,
, mission. A they approached the corpse
arrange foreheding passed through the min.
. of the woman Who led them, for their ~
something familiar in that suspended form
even in the midst of it, unnatural surround
ings. The blood rushed hack to her hear
, ~ she neared it. Suddenly the brees
/. swayed il round and
OH HORRORS!
in ITS distorted features che beheld the linea
/, rents of her idolixed hueband-the fathe
of her child-and she swooned away in
dead faint upon the ground, Ut the feet o
him who in life vas her all.
Cruel vas the blow that dashed dow
with one fell stroke all the earthly happi
ness, and in her agony she prayed for deatl
that she might join her murdered love il
Immortality, but the plaintive vail of he
sweet babe aroused her 10 sense of duty
and she felt that she had something to liv,
for and protect.
Tenderly and reverently Vas the soldiel
husband laid At rest in his narrow home b,
these sorrowful women, whose sympatheti,
grief was his only burial service. But Oh,
fairest flowers Of the field and the flores
were gathered BY the griefstrickes
widow and planted upon his grave. II
the sunny days of GUNNER she would make
daily pilgrimages 70
Il