Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1879-08-21
MARRIED HIS SISTER.

CT the Same Family Met, Were
Married and Lived Together Six
Years,
Reading (Pa.) Eagle
The following story is well au-l
thcnticated. The names of per-
SONS and places are changed for
obvious reasons: Years ago a.
family, consisting of father, moth
er and two children, lived in a.
small town in Western Ohio.
The head of the family, Mr.. Law
ton, was a lawyer and speculatcr,.
and had been a merchant. He
had grown rich, very rich for.
those times, and was noted for.
his keen business sagacity and
for his honest and kindly heart.
His wife had been delicate,
pretty girl when he married her,
and after his second child was
born her health broke down, and
she became a confirmed invalid.
The couple had two children
boy named Michael, who was, at
the, time referred to, about eight
years old, and Mabel, who was
then "baby," and was about five
years old. Mabel was a pretty
child, and her parents petted her
and dressed her in a style that
made her the envy of all the
mothers in the neighborhood.
One day Mable went into her
mother's room and told her that
she vented to go and play with
some little girls on the next street.
Mrs. Lawton gave her consent,
but told her to be sure to come
home to dinner. Mabel prom
ised, kissed her mother gayly,
and ran out of the room-out of
the world as far as the poor
mother was concerned, for she
never saw her again. Mabel
did not come home to dinner,
and at supper time Michael was
sent after her. He soon return
ed with a pale, frightened face,
and told his father that his Sis
ter had started for home at noon,
and no one knew where she was.
Search was made for her in eve
ry direction, but without avail.
No trace Of the lost one could
be found. A month afterwards
the mother died healt-broken,
land the father sold his property
and became a homeless wanderer,
with but one object in lifeAthe
finding of the lost one. Taking
his son with him he travelled from
State to State, visiting public In
situations where children were
cared for, and going through cit
les making inquiries that might
lead to the desired result. From
the United States the search was
extended to Europe, and finally
in a Spanish city Mr.. Lawto1
caught a fever and died in a few
days, leaving his son, then a boy
of nineteen, all of his fortune
Mr.. Lawton told his boy that he
had no near relative except q
brother, who had gone to Calf
ornia in the first flush of the gold
fever, and had never been heard
Of afterward.
Michael Lawton came back tC
this country, entered a college in
the East and graduated will
honor. He studied law in the
Office of a famous New York
lawyer, and after being admitted
to practice went West and made
his home.in a newly-settled State,
where he soon built up a good
practice. One weekLawton went
to New York to visit a college
chum Marchmont, who had mar
ried and gone into business.
Marchmont had several young
sisters, and one afternoon Law
ton was introduced to Miss Ma
bel Letcher, a young lady who
was their music teacher. She
was exceedingly pretty and a la
dya in manner and mind, and
Lawton fellviolently in love with
ther, and before she left the city
lac asked her to marry him, and
she accepted him. They were
married the following spring, and
went to l.awton's Western home,
where they lived happily togeth-
er for six years, during which
time two children were born to
them. Miss Letcher, told Law
ton after an engagement that she
was an orphan, that her parents
had died when she was child
and that she could not remember
them at all. She had been named
by kind-hearted lady in East
ern Ohio. She had taught school
and made sufficient money to en-
ter a school in the East, where
she studied music, and after she
had graduated she got a class of
girls as pupils, and while thus
engaged she met Lawten.
Lawton was sitting in his Of
flee one day, when an odd-look-
ing man came in and asked for
"Mr. Lawton." An introduction
took place, and, after the usual
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