Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-11-09

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fingered along until four months had passed
away, and found him still 10th to return to
home and business. Having obtained the con-
sent of her father, it was decided that he
should return home first, to prepare for her
reception and the wedding, and she and her
father were to follow on the next steamer.
Everything passed off as intended, the family
were delighted at their sons choice, and gave
both her and her father hearty welcome.
The wedding took place short time after
their arrival, and the BRIDES father again re-
turned to Cuba, though not until Mr.. and
Mrs. Boyden, senior, had promised to visit
him at his home. An elegant mansion had
been prepared near the homestead for the re-
ception of the newly married couple, who now
took possession of it.
For long time the attractions of his new
home kept Boyden away from his former as
sOciates and pleasures ; but at last the OLD
love of gambling came over him, and he was
less frequently at home evenings and more at
his club. One night, about year after they
had been married he went as usual to the
gambling rooms of the club, and commenced
playing with a young man, a member, who
| They played heavily, John winning steadily
from the first, until his opponent, maddened
at his i'll luck, and the loss of large sum of
money, accused Boyden of cheating.
The words had scarcely passefhis lips when
pistol ball closed them forever. Everyone
rushed forward to the wounded man, thus
giving Boyden a good chance to escape un-
noticed, which he did, and rushing to the
depot saw train just leaving, and Jumped
aboard, bound he knew not whittier. Riding,
till the train reached its destination, he found
himself in city some ninety miles from home
lie stayed there during the day, shaving his
,cfo o1,a doth
himself, and the next day took steamer for
California. Here he engaged in every kind
of low dissipation, trying in vain to drive
away the remembrance of his former life, and
to forget the act that caused him to fly from
home. lie did not dare to read the papers,
fearing he should read something regarding
himself A common gambler, and with his
usual good luck, there was no lack Of money
to carry on his life of debauchery. Drink,
play and dissipate as he might, he could not
still his conscience, and at last, resolved to
travel, hoping in vain to leave his sin behind
him. He went to England and France, visit
ing those scenes he remembered to have seen
first when full of life and hope. No gamb-
ling place, however low, but knew his face,
and he soon became the terror of all profess
sionals, and the wonder of unlucky amateurs.
One day in Paris, some ten years after he
had left home, he was eating his dinner at
cafe, when he noticed a .merican paper ly-
ing near, and thought he sdw his old name (he
had assumed one while away, in print, and
taking it up he read:
"Died-In this city, Maly, the wife of Fran
els Boyden.'
The paper dropped from his hands, and the
man who had left home ten years ago, in the
prime of life, now bent down and grown pre-
maturely old by dissipation, bent his head upon
his hands, and wept as he had not done since a
little child. Resolved that he would end his
days in the land of his birth, he sailed for
America, and arriving, went straight to his
native city. Here, by adroit questionings, he
managed to obtain, unsuspected, the history of
his family since he had left them.
His father had been so shocked when the
news was brought to him Of the act his son
had committed that his mind was unsettled
from that day. His business, for want Of his
old tact and Judgment, became involved, and
he finally failed so badly that, after settling
with his creditors, there was scarcely enough
left for the family to live upon. This final
blow made him totally insane, so that, from
the time of his failure until his death. which
occurred about two years after he had been an
inmate of a insane asylum, his mother had
lived upon what had been saved from the
wreck of her husbands fortune, a broken
lledllcu NolLdu3 WIlOoC olily ioPC WOO III ehS
hereafter, and she had died short time before,
as he had seen in the paper. His wife had
returned to her former home, and after wait
ing five years for his return, or any news of his
whereabouts, had given him up for dead, and
married Il wealthy Cuban, with whom she was
then living in the happy possession of kind
husband and one lovely child Each new par
tcuar of the dreadful story only added to the
weight of remorse that bore down upon the
conscience-strcken man. After first hearing
the truth he had wandered about the streets,
always intoxicated, in his endeavor to silence
the still small voice that was continually re-
peating:
''You did it ! You did it,
Crazed at last by the terrible visions of the
past, that were continually haunting him, he
had resolved upon taking his own life, but
being as usual intoxicated, he had succeeded
only to the extent mentioned. The poor wretch
had hardly strength enough to finish the sad
story ere he breathed his last. The next day,
when his death appeared in the newspapers,
and it became known who he was, hundreds
who had known him in his pride, came and
begged to see his face, but humanity demand
ed that he should not thus be made show Of,
and he was buried by the side Of his father
and mother, the stone bearing the simple in
scription, "John BOyden.'