The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-05-01
Our BrOadbriln Letters.

A Striking Romance with an Unromantis
Ending Bridget Huligan's Hero.
ism-Boy Thieves Demolition Of Al
Old Sanctuary.
1 NEW YORK, April "a, 1880.
EDITOR CHIEF:
| Neither history or fiction furnishe.
any more striking romance than that
which has just eliminated here during
the present week. A little over q
month ago an announcement ap.
peared in the newspapers that the sou
of an eminent clergyman in Newark
had sued his father for his mainte.
nance for several years. This State.
ment was extraordinary enough, and
set all the gossips guessing; but be-
hind it lay u history which would
furnish the foundation of first. class
novel. About thirty years ago, at
Schrappell's, in the interior of the
State, lived young and beautiful
girl, who had just turned eighteen,
and who was regarded as one of the
bellies of the place. Besides being
young and beautiful, she was wealthy
in her own right, and a half hum
drcd young bloods, in her own and
the adjoining counties, we're ready to
fight or die for her, but with the usual
perversity of her sex, she would have
none of them, and, despite of the des-
perate siege they laid to her, sue kept
her little heart whole and free. About
this time she visited New York, on
the invitation Of some relatives, who
had son about the age of twenty.
There she stayed, enjoying the de.
lights of the metropolis, till it became
evident to her friends that she was
about to become mother. The son
of her friends, who appears to have
been the author of her ruin, accom-
panied her over to the Sands street
Methodist Church, in Brooklyn, and
there the pair were united in the holy
bonds of matrimony. This occurred
in the April of 1853. On the follow
ing June son was born to them, and
at its birth, it was taken from the
young mother, who "never saw her
darling boy again." Her father-in-
law took the child away, and told her
it was dead. Then they commenced
series of prosecutions aud abuses,
which, in a few months, drove the
wretched girl away from her husbands
home, and back to the home Of her
parents. The secret of her ruin sl,e
kept to herself, and though, to all ap-
pearances the same, the canker- w 0rm
was gnawning at her heart; for,
strange to say, she was infatuated
with the author of her ruin. Her
parents died, leaving her large
property, and then, and then, when
she was all alone, she hoped he might
return; but, he never came again.
Years rolled on, and the neighbors
wondered why Nellie refused all suit
ors. To the poor, the sick and the
forsaken, she was ever an angel of
mercy, and even the ontcasts Of her
own sex were frequently the recipi-
ents of her charity. So she quietly
passed on through life, honored and
loved by all who knew her, and a
few years ago, she passed away, leav-
ing her great fortune to charity, and
confi.ling her secret to her legal ad-
wiser, who had been her life long
friend, as he had ever been the friend
of her father. Her betrayer studied
theology, and graduated with high
honor into the priesthood Of the Epis-
copal Church. He taught pule mo-
rality acceptahly; ho preached excel
lent sermons, bat he never appears
to have cast thought, or to have
troubled himself about the young wife
whose life lie had SO cruelty blighted,
or of the child he had mercilessly
and cruelty abandoned. With this
great sin corroding at his heart, if he
had heart, it is a mystery how the
man could preach, sabbath after sab
bath, and ask pure men and women
to brenk bread at the table of the
Lord. But he went on for years; and
the infant who had been abandoned
to strangers who knew the secret of
his birth, became a man, and the
guardian who brought him up, before
he died, bequethed to the son a claim
on his parents for his maintenance. 1t
is on this claim that the son now sues
the father for nearly $1,000, and the
opening chapter in the Court presents
some interesting revelations.
All people who have paid any at
tention to history, have pondered
with delight over Horatius at the
Bridge, Napoleon at Arcole, Sergeant
Jasper on the parepets of Monltrie,
and Washington witt, his little hatch
ct. All these were men, except the