Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-06-19


was very grave. After, dinner, he and
his wife-let her 60 at that for the pres
ent-had long and secret talk. This
was what he had to tell her: Il j. -
That afternoon, while in his store, a
wretched- looking tramp came in and
forced his way up to the desk. r. 49,.
"You. are Mr.. Dash, + bolieve," said
tho tramp, adding, without pause for a
an answer, eand I'm B."'',7 u, '-'.,; }"
II don't see what that has to do with
me-" said Mr.. Dash, not for the moment
mindful that B. was the name of the
woman whom he had married. " -.
"WeH, not much" the tramp answered,
''only you married my wife,"
Dash was thunderstruck. The tramp
saw it, and enjoyed it. -.'f .':.
"I'm- not going to be troublesome"
the tramp said, s"but I have my rights.
My wife is my wife still, for the divorce
she got was all a sham, and she swore
to lie when she srore that she did
not know where was. have her let
ters, written to me within six months
of the time she says she got her d.
vOrce.''
The face Of the man to whom the
tramp WIS speaking was white. His
tongue was so dry, that he could not
speak. His knees were shaking, and
his feet dancing up and down, up and
down, up to his brain and down again, a
thousand times in second.
"Give me some money" said the tramp,
land I'll 60 away"
Mr.. Dash lifted his desk, grasped some
notes and handed them to the tramp.
he put them into his pocket and sneaked
past the clerks and customers into the
open air.
When Mr. Dash told his wife all this,
she told him in return what had hap
pened to herself. Strange enough no
plan was agreed upon by which to curb
the wretched man, or get rid of the
cause of fear. Time and again the
tramp called at Mr.. Dash's Office, and
got money. He was the same filthy
sot, no matter how much money went
into his hands. He never bought new
clothes, or took pains to make himself
look even clean. He was never with
out whisky except when he was with
out money, and he was never without
money except when he was coming
out of long debauch. At length,
however, even Mr.. Dash's grace failed,
and he spurned the hateful drunkard
Then he haunted the house again up
town, but big, strong man was placed
on guard with a club, and the tramp
could only swear, and rave, and stamp
at distance. He took to another
way, uglier, and more dramatic. On
Sunday night when Mrs. Dash was
quitting church he stepped up and
ask her for money, using threat to
show her up on tho spot If she did not
give him what he wished. Her trem-
bling hand sought her purse, which she
thrust out at him. At the door of the
concert-hall, the tramp watched for her,
and always with dreadful threat upon
his lips.
When the grand Methodist reunion
took place at the Academy of Music, not
long ago, Mrs. Dash went thither IN her
carriage with her husband. AS she
passed up the steps amid the pious
throng, man in slouched hat and a
shabby coat thrust his head alongside
hers and Kissed out the threat, 'Give me
the diamond ring on your finger, or I'll
follow you and introduce you.'
The afrightened woman had nothing to
do but tear off the ring and pass it to the
footpad. And so this same dreaded peril
the unearthing of sham and fraud in a
diyorce-haun::s this woman at all times.
To this day the husband is around as a
tramp, drawing money by threats, and
Boosting in gin-mills Of his power to haul
big man down and ruin his wife
whenever he chooses. The victim has
been told what to do to ease herself of the
burden, but she is afraid to act, lest the
story now written should be told with
the real name put in.-Chicago Tribune