Connecticut western news., 1879-02-19
scHERMERHORN,s TWO WIVES.
PROBABLY THE Mosl REMARKABLE OF
 ALL REGENT INDICTMENTS FOR BIaANIY.

 A veteran of the war of the rebellion, so maimed in battle as to be unable even to stand erect, was tried in Yorkvitle, Ill. James s. Schermerhorn, the de- fendant, was one of the first to respond to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers. He soon attracted the notice of bis superior officers, and was made one of the color guard of his regi ment. In every action in which he was engaged he proved his bravery. At the taking of Arkansas Post, early in 1863, the color sergeant of the regiment dropped the flag, but Schermerhorn picked it up, and, rushing forward with it, was the first man of the entire Union army to mount the rebel breastworks, and there he held his ground against score of assailants till his comrades came up. This feat made him known to the commanding Generals.
 Schermerhorn was with his regiment throughout the icksburg campaign. In the assault on May 19, he was wounded and made helpless cripple for life. Since that time he has not stood on his feet, the surgeons having cut out several inches of his back bone, thus rendering it impossible for him to stand upright. He has, however, in- vented steel truss or brace, by the help of which he sits in chair with tolerable ease. .
 Gen. Sherman has always kept the crippled soldier in mind, and on the occasion of the great fair of the Sanitary Commission in Chicago, near the close of the war, the General paid Schermer- horn visit, and gave him massive gold ring, suitably inscribed.
 In September, 1876, Schermerhorn married Margaret Harris in Macomb, McDonough County, Illinois. The bride was reared in home of aff1uence. Al the breaking out of the war she was married to MT. McNaught, who entered the army and was killed. She the1 became a hospital nurse, and wat specially detailed to wait upon Schermer horn. This was while he was in Douglas place, Chicago, where the Government had built a little house for his own use in one corner of the grounds. While stationed there Mrs. McNaught wa, married to one Harris, who subsequently, abandoned her and went to California She told Schermerhorn that she ha( procured divorce from Harris, ant they were married.
 { Not long after the wedding Schermer horn ascertained that the alleged divorce was worthless, and began to suspect hi wife of unfaithfulness. He abandoned her in May 1877, and began suit fo divorce. In due time his lawyers toll him that 8 divorce had been decreed and that he was free man once more He then came to Kendall County, an, in the town of Plano, in September 1877, he married Miss Cora B. Atherton and they went to housekeeping on little patch of land near this place.
 A month had not elapsed before tn first wife appeared in the county, an told her story. Schermerhorn wa arrested on charge of bigamy. A sol of peace was patched up, Schermerhor giving the woman Harris a note fo $175, and she giving him paper re leasing him from all claims, an promising never to molest him in regar to the Plano marriage. The $175 WE given in the form of note payable t her lawyer in one year, and was secure bya chattel mortgage on horse, buggy and harness that Schermerhorn used i going about the country.