Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-07-15
ROMANCE REALIZED.
A WEIRD TALE OF KENTUCKY.
MsjOF ThrOckmOrtOn's Ghost
ShadOwed Twenty Years-HOw n
Woman Fulfilled Her Vow and
Won ReparatIOn.
LouisUiue Cor Cincinnati cou,,nerciol

death, in Mississippi, of Maj John R.
Throckmorton, of Louisville, man of leis-
ure and of style, bachelor of 65, famous
beau OF quarter Of century ago, and the
lover of the beautiful Sallie Ward at the
time when the bewitching Southern girl
captured the son of the Puritan Governor
Lawrence, Of Massachusetts,. When the
young bride went to her New England home
Throckmorton followed. It is asserted that
Jealousy of Throckmorton, which Mrs. Law
renee was too proud to resent by explana-
ton, was In reality the cause which led to
the separation 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 expla-
nation. Throckmorton still hovered around
deyotedly, but was not rewarded by
the lady's hand. She married DIR. Hunt
and after his death became the wife of 8
wealthy pork man named Armstrong
When this gentleman died, it was rumored
that at last Major Throckmorton was to be
blessed for his lifetime devotion, but the
handsome widow drives about in the finest
private turnout the city affords, and has
paid no more attention to the addresses Oi
the Major than in the days of her girlhood
The beauty Of the Kentucky belle, Sallie
Ward, made her fame worldwide, and the
persistency with which the Major followed
her gave him a certain interest I'm the eyes
of the multitude, but 1t was another woman
that held him to the gaze of mankind, a
woman who shadowed him more constantly
than he haunted the path of the famous
belle.
Throckmorton was pleasing and frivo-
lous man of the world when he first met the
schoolgirl, Ellen Goodwin. He was about &c
years of age, she was Is. Her family was
at least the equal of his, and to an Older
sister he had been paying attentions. The
girl was impulsive. interesting and limo
cent. He deliberately set to work to feign
love and to gain her heart. Having gained
it, he threw it aside without concern and
went his way.
Soon after veiled figure appeared on the
streets of LOUISVILLE gIrlish form that
moved silently after the man wherever be
went. She never spoke to him, neither
upbrsided nor reviled. When he entered
the hotel she stood at the door; when he
emerged from his club house she WAS wait
ing. In New York, in New Orleans, she
was at his side, phantom-like. He tocu-
larly spoke of her to his friends as his
''Hell's Delight"
Ten years passed. Her old friends de.
cided her crazy for keeping the thing up.
Fifteen years rolled around, the police
knew her, they watched her faithfully, as
some harmless, demented thing, and passed
her from beat to beat, as she ploughed her
way homeward in the wee sma' hours of the
stormy night. No human ever offered her
harm or insult, although she often stood all
night before the places where her guilty
lover was hidden.
Twenty years were gone, old friends had
dled-father, mother, scboolmstes. Her
hair had thinned and whitened; her form
stopped cough sounded hollowly on the
air; her step was more feeble; yet none the
less 1t tracked pOrtly, gray barred, fash
ionably attired man from mansion to man
sion on New Years day; from theatre aud
club room, night after night.
Twenty-three years passed. Even the lit
tie children grew to know the plain, shabby,
blaek-robed woman, and nyfDgerS pointed
at Throckmorton's ghost. Young girls
looked wOnderiDgly after her as she passed
them silently. Wives sighed or smiled
pitYiugly-they were so secure and sheltered
when her garments brushed their own.
Mothers grasped their girls more closely
suppose this woman's wrong should be the
fate Of their sweet daughters in the DAYS to
VVnIo. o., fVI sWenIY IhIee years, Cne pnan-
tom, silent, certain, doeged the betrayer's
steps. At last friends of his had her ar
rested as lunatic, and, through their mis-
guided precaution, the man and woman
were brought face to face in the
court room at Louisville. Then It was
that all the city woke up to the knowl-
edge that this woman was neither crazy
nor fool. H~r language was eloquent, her
manner refined, her face firm. The whole
sad story of her life was told--her vow to
follow him until the hour of retributiOn, her
persistent watching, her silence and re-
veDge. Before the woman he had Wronged
ThrOckmorton quailed, and his bravado was
not equal to the cross questioning to which
he was exposed. At last, one evening as |
was walking on Jefferson street, near the
court house, great shout ascended; cheer
after cheer went up. The old court house
rang with applause. Men threw up their
hats. Ellen Goodwin was acquitted, and
ThrockmOrtOD's ghost was laid; for the
woma >, having brought him to the bar and
having told the story OF his perfidy, said
that her work was done. ald she would
haunt him no more.
Throckmorton, conscious Of his guilt, had
rcfrained from arrestiDg her, greatly as she
annoyed him, during all the twenty-five
years, and the story would have been un-
told, and she would have lived and died,
regarded by The present generation as a
monomaniac, had not the gallant Majors
friends interpOsed their welt meaning blum
der. There never was a trial In the ci v
that Cqualled this IN interest. At its close
the entire room was filed with shouts,
which those outside took up, until the
whole city rang with the news of the vindi-
cation. The jurors crowded around and
shook hands with the accused, and persons
who for years had passed her without re-
cognit!ol asktd d pardon of their old friend
After the trial, my friends tell me that
Ellen Goodwin never in any way noticed or
spoke of Msj) IT ThrockmortOn. A time
spent in retirement, aud then the desire
seemed to awaken in this blighted heart to
know and feel some OF the happy things of
life, from which she had debarred herself.
Her shabby black was laid aside; plain
clothing, but the richest. took its place :;
study, books and music filed the days.
One day the guests at the Gait House saw
an elegantly dressed lady enter the dining
room with Mrs. General Preston. This
beautiful lady paid her friend every atten-
tioD, and poor Ellen Goodwin awakened
wonder afresh by her ease in the new posi-
tion. She boarded some time at the Gait
House, and then: travelled for while. But
the purpose which had kept her up SO long
was now lacking, and she sank gradually
from eart1 until, few years after her ar
raignment, she quietly passed away.
1t has been mystery how she kept track
of Throckmorton on his frequent tours.
Some persons say she pos sessed clairvoyant
power, or could read the mind OF her lover;
others supposed that the Msjor's body SER
want, who always accompanied him, gave
the information. | am told that in her last
days she regretted having neglected the
beauty of the body for so long. 1t was her
desire that at death she should be hand
somely robed. The directions for her fuue-
raj were left with her lawyers, and she went
to her last sleep dressed like queen, IN a
black velvet burial robe, with rich laces,
silken hose and dainty slippers.