Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, D.T. [N.D.]) 1878-1884, 1878-12-02
STRAIGHT THROUGH The HEART

'ESTRAIGHT THROUGH The HEART
! a BULLET CARRIES CORPORAL
NOOE4Y TO ETERNlTY.
The Unfortunate Husband OF Mrs
N0onan Commits Suicide---An In
terview with Him. He Declares
/ the Existence OF Some Terrible
Mystery. and Syears '.She'' Was :.
Woman. s N
!, Corporal Noonan, Of the Seventh Caval-
5ry, whose wife" died some weeks ago.
committed suicide in one Of the stables of
the lower garrison Saturday. It was re.
ported some days ago that he had desert
cd, but no one this side of the river had
seen him. 1t now appears that the man
had kept himself out of the way asWell as
he could for several days His comrades
! had given him sort Of cold shake since
/ the return Of the regiment from the chase
after the Sioux, and this, and the shame
that fell on him in the discovery of his
wife's sex undermined his desire for ex-
istence and he crawled away lonely and
forsaken and blew out the life that prom
ised him nothing but infamy and disgrace.
1 s@p THE SUICIDE.
The suicide was committed with a pistol
and Noonan shot himself through the
heart The affair created almost as in
tense excitement at the post rs did the an
nouncement of the death Of Mrs Noonan,
but there was a sigl CT relief on the cor
porate5i ips Of the Seventh Cavalry when
its members heard that Noonan by his
own hand had relieved the regiment of
! the odium which the mans presence cast
! upon them.
yt SORROW,
! De naoqtiua NIL nSsi Jonum But there was
so much in Noonans career that made
his life oppressive, not only to those
around him but 10 himself, that the hunt
must be. thorough to find something that
will not reject Oh his memory.
ga THE INTERVENE.
Thursday afternoon a reporter for THE
| TRIBUNE interviewed Noonan upon the
! unfortunate relations between himself and
the man who represented himself as MOO
mans wife.
i"When I married her, sir,' said Moo
nan, earnestly, II believed her to be /.
.woma-, and never knew tosthe contrary
until I heard Of the post; nagTfane.''
! "Iou were a husband to her, We're you
not asked the reporter,rt.a husb band with
all that the name implies " y
Il was, 80 help lne Godsput the later
revelations mystiiy me- Eanst under
stand it. She told ME once ssslttittss Was
about to make ME happy ~ presenting
me withsa child We taIllcusit over, and
both Of us wished it mig besa girl. Sud
denly she apprized me ofthe fact that she
was mistaken, and We-both smourned the
misfortune. 9a49So During all our married
experience we WI 6f:#;:72 l
LoNGED FOR CHILDREN,
but there seemed to be something could
not understand that preyented the full
fruition Of Our hopes. a.i .-.3s s,z.s5& z 2
Are you prepared to say,5N CONAN, that
during your marital experience you never
dreamed of what the medical officers dis
covered 2 sSs EaE5s Sss, sss 3 y
Il mean Just that: / dare not say that
! the medical ,of1cers were wrong, but i
know that am right, and l know that
my wife was a woman. There some
terrible mystery about this thing that
can't understand. She had acted as mid
wife and doctress here at,the Post. She
was trusted and respected byFa large num-
Der of people, and can only think that
she must have done something terribly
wrong which demanded q disguise Of her
sex by the diagnosing physicians
"But her wrong must have been to one
of her supposed sex, and can't under
stand how the alteration could benefit
hcr''
Nor I. There is something dark and
SOMETHING TERRIBLE
about this thing. Where it will end
| don't know | am but a sergeant, while
those in control Of this thing stand far
above me in rank. They can pronounce
her man, woman, God or devil, as they see
lift, but I am doomed to the infamye and
can. find no relief. AS Almighty God is
my judge. my wife was a woman, and l
care nothing for post nao1tena 1aminations
to the'contrary. Why, / tell you, sir, she
at one time had an abortion procured up
on her. In her early life she was in the
habit of carrying heavy burdens. The ef-
feet of this was to SO relax her muscles
SO that she could not carry child. Three OF
..l ,Yrs5 -FOUR HARD'sIGKNEssEs a . -
resulted, land I, myself, was party to one
abortion to save her the pain Of another,
After that may as well tell you the
whole istory-she told me of the coming
footsteps pattering onsthe8 clouds, ,butdt re-
suited in nothing but pain and sickness Z
Sergeant, are you lying to me, orst!ell- i!
1sing me the truth ?''s =? .sSss I g g.ss3 u,
@ ;aThe truth, 50 help me God. will
swear before my Maker that she was q
woman: But ] can't tell what could have
induced this concealment Of her sex.as.I