The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1880-01-30
4 Story OF the Remarkable Experience o
Mrs. AlOnZO Davis


The drunkard in question, Mr.. Alonzo
B. Davis, has been in the active exercise
of his profession for nearly ten years.
and is universally regarded as the most
energetic ard accomplished drunkard in
Potts county, Indiana. He has been in
the constant habit of returning to his
house, at about midnight, in an advan-
ced stage of drunkenness for several
years, and during the seventeen mon tbs
preceding the 4th Of January, 1880, ne
never lost a single night by sObriety.
Mrs. Davis is a most estimable and ami
able woman. and in spite of her husban's
disgracefuI conduct has steadily clung
to him. Night after night she sat up
for the degraded man in order to help
him up stairs and to take off his boots.
With the self respect of a true woman
she never allowed him to treat her with
violence. but promptly knocked him
down with baseball club whenever he
showed symptoms of muscular brutality.
a more tender, long suffering. and de-
voted wife a man never had. and vet
Mr.. Davis requited her kindness by con-
tinuing to live where there were a river
a railroad. three buZz-saws, and any
quantity of kerosene in the town, with
the aid of which he might at any mo-
ment have had a fatal and heneficent ac-
cident.
On the night Of the 4th of January
Mrs. Davis was as usual, sitting up in
/ her bedroom and waiting for her wretch
ed husband. 1t was nearly IL O'Clock.
1 The night was cold, and the candle was
almost burned out. In the corner stood
/ the baseball club ready to be used in
/ case of necessity. and on the mantel
piece the eight day clock drOwsily licked
away the waning hours Tired Mrs.
/ Davis herself grew drOwsy, and when a
( loud ring at the frOnt-doOr bell aroused
her, she found that she had fallen asleep
and thai the candle was out.
Without waiting to light another can
die, the faithful wife felt her way down
I stairs. opened the door and admitted the
drunkard. He was even more drunk
than usual. for he could not articulate
single word. Mrs. Davis had immense
difficulty in assisting him down stairs
for he insisted on sitting down on every
separate step and falling asleep. There
were twenty-five steps in all, and it took
three quarters of an hour to get him to
the top Of the stairs, down which he
promptly fell again. Nothing, how
ever, can exhaust the patience of a good
woman, and about 1890 Mrs. succeeded
+ in bringing her charge into the bedroom
and placing him on the sofa. where he
instantly and permanently went to sleep.
Is In the circumstances, she resolved to
let HIM lie there, and thus avoid the
trouble Of lighting a candle. So she
lDOsed his collar, drew off his boots,
IfaCed stick Of wood under his head,
and inserted piece of soap in his mouth
asa hint to him to stop snoring. Hav-
ing thus made him comfortable for the
night, she went about TO prepare herself
for bed, when the front door was opened
with a latch-key. and a man spTang
e1Ts -+o I'D int hn
room. Mrs. Davis. being a woman of
much presence of tmind, screamed
''fire!E and hastily lit the candle, so that
she could see now t5 begin eperatioRs
With the club on the supposed burglar.
To her unspeakable horror the new
conner was her husband in 4 state OF
sObriety. He had not been so hopelessly
and aggressively sober in ten years, and
2 as he looked at the drunkard on the sofa
recognized him as certain dissolute
5 neighbor, and thenein sepulehTal tones
F; said Mary is this my reward FOR
signing the pledge - Mrs. Davis felt
5 that her cup was full. In the darkness
i, of the night, and trusting implicitly tO
: to the habitual drunkenness OF her hus
I band, she had innocentiy taken thS
) wrong dTunkard to her room, and nov
her cruel husband had betrayed her con
] fidence by actually venturing 10 come
!. home sober at the most inopportune mo
e ment possible.
+, The probability is that the poor NO
e man viii be sent home in disgrace TO be
{ mother. Mr.. Davis assumes to regarl
= himself in the light OF n betrayed am
d wronged husband, and refuses TO accep
Mrs. Davis's explanation. She nov
/ feels that the erowRing cruelty Of hi
2 constant drunkenness. he should sud
d denly and without any warning com
is home sober, was Indeed q refinement G
cruelty of which obly the most hardene
man could be guilty .-Ne'r York T'1nci
q