The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1881-08-04
THRocKMoRToN'S SHADOW.
A Woman Silently Follows for
Twenty-three Years the Man
who had Wrongea Her.

A letter from Louisville contains thS
following strange story:
To-day came news of the death, in
Mississippi, of Major John r. Throck.
| morton OF Louisville, a man OF leisure
and of style, bachelor of 60, a famous
beau of a quarter OF century ago, and
the lover of the beautiful Sallie Ward
at the time when the bewitching south
ern girl captured the son of the Puritan
Governor Lawrence of Massachusetts,
When the young bride went to her New
England home, Throckmorton followed.
1t is asserted that jealousy of Throck-
morton, which Mrs. Lawrence was too
proud to resent by expiation, was in re-
ality the cause which led to the separa-
ton of Lawrence and his wife. Sallie
Ward came back to her fathers house,
and divorce was granted Lawrence on
the ground OF desertion. The lady gave
no explanation. ThrockmOrton still
lowered around devotedly, but was not
rewarded by the lady's hand. She mar
ried DR.. Hunt, and after his death be-
came the wife of n wealthy pork man
named Armstrong.
When this gentleman died, it was ru-
mored that at last Major Throckmorton
would be blessed for his lifetime devo-
tiOn, but the handsome widow drives
about in the finest private turnout the
city affords, and has paid no more atten
tion TO the addresses OF the major than in
the days of her girlhood. The beauty
of the Kentucky belle, Sallie Ward,
made her fame worldwide, and the per-
sistency with which the major followed
her gave him a certain interest in the
eyes OF the multitude, but iT was
another woman that held him up to the
gaze of mankind, d woman who shad-
owed him more constantly than he
haunted the path of the famous belle.
Throckmorton was a pleasing and
frivolous man of the world when he
first met the schoolgirl, Ellen Goodwin;
He was about thirty years Of age; she
was fifteen. Her family was at least the
equal of his, and to an older sister he
had been paying attention. The girl
was impulsive, interesting and innocent.
lie deliberately set to work to teign
love and to gain her heart. Having
gained it he threw it aside without con-
Germ and went his way.
Soon after, a yelled figure appeared
on the streets of Louisville, a girlish
form that moved silontly after the man
wherever he went. She never spoke TO
him, neither upbraided nor reviled.
When he entered ;he hotel she stood at
the door; when he emerged from his
clubhouse she was waiting. In New
York, in New Orleans, she was at his
side, phantom-like. He jOcularly spoke
Of her to his friends as his "Hades' De-
light"
Ten, fifteen, twenty years passed, and
by day and night everywhere he went
she followed him like a spectre.
At last, at the end OF twentysthree
years, he had her arrested as lunatic
In court she told her sad story and her
VOW to follow him until the hour of
retribution. The old courthouse rang
with applause. Men threw up their
hats. Ellen Goodwin was acquitted,
and Throckmorton's ghost was laid; for
the woman having brought hiua to the
bar, and having told the story of his
perfidy, said that her work was done,
and she would haunt him no more.
After the trial my friends tell them
that Ellen Goodwin never in any way
noticed or spoke of Major Throckmor-
ton. The purpose which had kept her
up so long was now lacking, and she
sank gradually from earth until, a tew
years after her arIaignment, she quietly
passed away.
1t has been a mystery how she kept
track of ThrockmOrton on his frequent
tours. Some persons say she possessed
clairvoyant power or could read the
mind of her lover; others supposed that
the majors body servapt, who always
ACCOMPANIED him, gave the Information.
| am told that in her last days SHE re-
GREETED having neglected the beauty of
the body for so long. 1t was her desire
that at death she should be handsomely
rnbed. The directions for her funeral
she left with her lawyers, and she went
to her last sleep dressed like a queen, in
a black velvet burial robe, with rich
lace, silken hose and dainty slippers.