The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-05-04
Stranger Than Fiction.

A Bd90O reporter yesterday met q
gentleman from Joplin who gave him
the particulars of one of the most re-
markable divorce cases of which we
have ever heard. The following is the
story:
A lady sued for divorce in Joplin
recently, and when it came up the start
ling developments of which we write
were brought to light, and upon their
strength it was granted.
In 1868 the lady, then young and
handsome maiden, a resident of Stone
County, Southwest Missouri, married a
worthy young man to whom she had
long been engaged. Their union was a
happy one, and, as both had been
reared in the vicinity and were beloved
and respected by all, they received the
kindest beniSons of all who knew them.
But the war was raging around them,
and their locality was alternately oc-
cupied by each of the contending armies
a draft was about to be made, and the
young husband, a month after his mar
riage, concluded to take advantage of
the Governments liberal offers and en-
list, rather than run the risk of being
forced into its ranks without any emol-
ument save the meager pay of private
So he voluntarily enlisted and became
a private in the ranks of the Union
army.
His courage and intelligence soon
gained the respect of his officers and
fellow-men, and in several hard-fought
battles he distinguished himself to such
an extent that his name was forwarded
to the department headquarters in ST.
Louis, and in a short time returned en-
blazoned in a Second Lieutenant com
mission.
The regiment was then stationed in
Northern Arkansas, and at this oppor-
tune moment, when he was so near to
all he held dear (for a son was born to
him in his absence), he could not resist
the temptation to obtain a short leave
of absence and visit his wife and child
This tohim high-prized boon was east
ly obtained, and with his commission in
his pocket he mounted his horse and
started for home. With eager haste he
pursued his journey, his mind being
filled with bright visions of a happy
meeting with his heart idols. At length
the well-remembered landmarks came
to view.
He was close to home.
A few hundred yards of the leafy for
est, and he would be in the opening
where he could see the smoke from the
cot that contained his treasures.
How he would surprise them!
How his wife would cry for joy!
How his bright-eyed babe would
Haltr' came fierce order, in stem
torian tones, from the brush that sur
rounded the road. Ere he could rein
in his horse in obedience to the dread
summons he was, as if by magic, sur
rounded by twenty or thirty fierce and
heavily-armed men, whom his practiced
eve told him were the most unrelenting
foes that the uniform he wore ever had
His heart sank within him, brave as he
was, for he knew there was no mercy in
the breast of q bushwhacker, for such
they were.
A few questions were put to him by
the leader of the band, but they were
more for forms sake than anything
else. His uniform was a mute answer
for all they wished TO know, while from
his pockets, which were rapidly turned
inside out, was the commission drawn
forth, which made them more eager for
his blood.
The leader of the band was a man
near his own age, and to him he ap-
pealed and demanded that he be treated
as prisoner of war. His request was
treated with derision. and a moment
more his legs were pinioned. and an
ominous rope with moose at its end
dangled from the limb of an adjacent
tree. Again he appealed to his inhu-
man captors, and implored them to let
him see his wife and child but for mo
ment before he died. But, even as he
duplicated, the leader put the fatal
loop around his neck, gave a signal
with his hand, and the unfortunate man
was swung off into eternity with a
prayer for his widowed wife and or
phaned child upon his lips.
The next day the corpse was dis
covered swaying in the wind by pass
ing soldier, who, stopping at the next
house (Which happened to be the home