, 1879-08-24
TWO WIDOWS.
0r = Matrimonial Tale Of Two
Continents.
aha r;ckle Roth, and the Peculiar Mar-
riage Laws Of Wurtemberg. :
u;dov No, i Admits She Has 4 Bad
Head for Business.

xfa1v vears aHO, when chicago Wds utLle-
-. ,han a town in swaddling clothes, there
-s,oe here from Wurtemberg sturdy native OF
.,.+ ..onntry, named John George Roth. de
~ served bis time learning the dissection OF
mil ,,ks, calves, and pigs, the manufacture Oh
ea,t IRE. and the curing OF hams and bacon.
~, .anital WAS limited, but he had thorough
y, r1edee Of his business, and fully appreciated
:, q economic maxitns Of Ben Franklin. With
t1t few hundred dollars be opened butcher
r y, though At this date it Ia difficult to exact
1ocatc the spot on which he established the v.ht-
oe "By q careful attention to business" anu
,.ruuulously striving to please his customers,
. AZ trade steadily grew, and his cash account at
, he end Of each year showed q constantly IN
,roasine balance in his favor. After he had ac-
nmu,ated few thousand dollars he made IN
,estmepts in real estate in the heart OF the city,
nnrinr lot here and there, whenever he con-
Guided that there was bargain in it.
It does not appear that Mr.. Roth ever took
%he trouble to invest himself with the franchise
If American citizenship. Whether it was from
nepiect to taka out his papers or an unwilling
ness to do so, cannot now be ascertatned. Aa
far as appears on the record he-was simp4y'a
freeholder and q taxpayer. 80.
TIE LAWS OF WURIEMBERG -
At that time, as they do now, rendered null and
vofd any marriage entered into by one Of its
snhiects without the consent OF the Govern
,neut. This obtains full force everywhere IN
,the KINGDOM, but how far it is binding on sub
{ects domiciled in foreign countries Is ques-
tim which has been differently decided by the
courts Of those foreign nations before whom
matrimonial cases involving the Wurtemberg
law hare been tried.
As soon as Mr. Roth had sufficiently estab-
1fshad his butcher-shop h6 came to the con-
clusion that it was not wise for man
to live alone. He began to look
anound for wife, and found his
fate in the person OF Miss Madelaine Moser, a
native of Bschweiler, in the Department OF
Alsace. which then aud up to the conclusion OF
the Fsanco-Prussiau war belonged TO France
After the ordinary length OF courtsh'p' Mt
Roth and Miss Moser became man and wife, the
wedding taking place july 81, 1850. In the 1ol-
loving April she presented her husband with
an hei., OF whom both the parents were very
proud, and to whose manhood they looked LOT
support in their declining years Fate, now
ever, relen1lessly ordained 1t Otherwise. Inc
child died ten days after his ontn.
The demise Of the little one IN
to have heen a crushing blow: Grief for the
child reused his mind against this countr', and
after the funeral, he announced to bis w11c ms
intention to leave the United States forever, anu
reside for the remainder Of his oals 10 n!S ~.
tive land. Sharing his immoderate grief, MS
uife heartily co-operatcd With him IN his deter
m1nation. The next few weeks we're devoted 10
putting his affairs in shape, and July OF tue
same year the childless couple Lett this city 1of
New York. where they took the steamer and
sailed Ior Europe. After travelling around for
some weeks they reached Sfrasourg,
wnere Mrs. Ro,h's father was then LYING
After a protracted visit the couple lett
the old Alsatian city, and settled down in
the ancestral home OF Mr. Roth.
: In this quiet and somewhat out-ot-the-Way
place the couple settled down, Esaking OCCASION
ii trips to neighbortng towns anu villages on
the OCCASION of singing, shooting, and other
festivals with which rural:lifc In Germany Is 50
much fcsiooned.
THE CHICAGO PROPERTY
still remained intact. The crises OF 1851 came
md went; the political troubles Of 1s60 passed
p9 upnoticed oy the Roths, vino, living quiet
HE in a secluded German village, gave no par
ticnlar heed to anyth ny emanatng from Amer
ics, for whose soil Mir. Roth had Affection since
# contained the remains 0! bis dearly loved child
The civil var OF 1861 and the following imitation
in the values OF all real and personal properly
seem not to have affected him in the ieasL me
and the increasing rents he acceo oted with stolu-
tty, and, as far as the records show, the couple
lived eonlenIed and happy.
But it was the calm which forctold the storm.
Some time in 1867, while Mr. and Mrs: ko'h
we're living in Scborndorf, the latter SAN that Il
serpent had, in the person OF one
ANAIIE sTAEuLE,
entered their bower OF Eden, and the wife was
not slow to learn that the temptress had sup
planted her in the affections Of her hush md.
The Storm burst with the discoTery- Crimln-
alton aud recrimiuation followed with amazing
apidity. Roth, according to the wife's declara.
tion, became so Infatuated with his uew-found
love, that be openly and daily visited her, LOOK
her uut driving whenever the weather would
permit, and il general conducted himself Wltn
an abandon born Of erotic intoxication.
Towards Mrs. Roth his manner completely
changed. She claims that be compelled her to
perform the lowest menial work, frequently
beat her, and used towards her the most pro-
fsne language. This course of treatment she
could NOT long stand: Her n,sax nea!tn grao4si!y
she Was compelled to seek pro.
tecdon at her fathers house
In Strasbure. About this time Mr. Roth had
reached 60 years, aud the fair Amalie was IN the
he'ghborhOod OF Is.
In September, 1873, sIrs. Roth made journey
to Stuttgart, where Roth was then residing 70.
oTer Two years her husband had failed to grant
her any support, and she became weaTy o1 being
burden Oh her parents. The interview WAS 10!
satisfactory one, as she AYERS. He insisted
that be had been ruined by the Chicago lire, MS
houses had all been destroyed, the real proper
y was Of no value, and poverty stared hlm IL
the lace, After prolonged Interview he tinall,
agzeed to give her $500 in United States bonds
on condition that she would
s1GN THE FOLLOWING PAPER,
Which she finally cid:
,.sTur1GAnr. Sept. 9. 1S73.-The undersigned,
AAdelatne Roth, nee Moser, born in lischwelieE,
and at this time residing in Schilttghe1m, neas
btfAsburg, cerlfes hereby that She has to- day re.
eelFed from John George Roth. now her divorced
husband, In Schorndor1. in the Superior Court
district OF Schorndorf, as her settlement the sun
q u 600 In . per cent United States bonds. VIII
u! Current coupons attached thereto, anu she
acknowledges herewith thai she. on the strcnslk
q 1hese premises, surrendered ali AMI every De-
Mand or right she may have against said Rotn ol
his property. MApELA1SE HoTH-
This paper Mrs, Roth signed, believing, a.
ahe now AYERS, La.41 it was simply receipt fol
mat amount Of money paid to her on account o.
ner support She nalyely confesses that she
never had any capacity for business, was eA
4emey cousderate and trusting, and VeEg
eedu1ous. In short, she admits herself to be :
nttle 6impleton. Her husband had never totc
aes OF his business, aud she never knew any
tnngg a: about bis affairs until three years later
Mhea her husband had told her, shortly alte1
me chicago fire, that he was "busted com
Mnnity," she wrote to her brother Louis Moses
VINO she then believed to be in this city, making
QQulrina ~ sha e+o+;1 NF fhp Roth nafT1