The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-10-01

A Painful story An E~XcPSsIVe ADpe-
ute for Liquor said TO br the
Cause.

The profound sensation created
~ the first shock of the news that
he wife of Engineer Melville had
become mentally deranged was in
1ensitied by the rumors current
yesterday in regard to the cause.
The true story of the affair is n
most painful one When Engi-
leer Melville left his home to Join
The Inflated Jeanette expedition,
lmong the last persons he saw
the good old physician who
had attended his family since he
had been at Sharon Hill-Dr. W.
Fisher Longstreth. A cloud had
in Mclville's domestic life.
His wife had acquired an appetite
for drink, which had more than
once involved her in trouble and
threatened to engulf him in ruin.
All efforts to conquer her craving
for liquor had failed, and, although
at times there seemed to be
grounds for hope, the engineer
left his family with many misgiv-
He asked his friends to
look after his wife and the little
girls, and one day, taking the fam
physician aside, said to him:
'Look after them, doctor. Ileave
them in the hands of Heaven and
of my friends"
On Friday night the voyager
returned to his home and found
his wife under the, influence of
liquor, and the generous reception
of the Sharon Hill people was
wound up with a drunken orgie,
in which Mrs. Melville and the ne
gro walters conspicuous.
A Sharon Hill friend of Engineer
Melville, a lady who lives within a
hundred yards Of the Melville cot
said: "Poor Melville's heart
was almost crushed. He had
heard in Newly ork stories which
had prepared him to find that
Mrs. Melville had not given up
her unfortunate habit, and these
reports had been in a measure
confirmed at Philadelphia; but
for the terrible reality which was
to confront him upon the thresh-
old of his home he had not been
prepared. Don't misunderstood
me-" added the lady; 81 do not
mean to say a word that might do
Mrs. Melville an injustice. She
Is a most generous, kind-hearted
and sympathetic neighbour
mother who loved her children
and took excellent care of them,
in n way. think she is also fond
OF her husband and proud of his
fame; but the demon which held
possession of her has clouden her
whole life and involved her un-
happy family in such distress as
is painful to think of. As soon
as Engineer Melville had greeted
his children he went into the sit
ting-room, where his wife was
waiting to receive him. He saw
100 truly that his worst suspicious
were to be realized. Opiates and
drugs had been given to her in
the hope that she might tide over
the night. Once during the even
ing she broke away from the
reception-room and went to the
kitchen, where in company with
the colored walters and others, she
drank three glasses Of wine and
other liquors. Let us draw a cur
tain over the scene between hus-
band and wife when the guests
had departed, the children had
been put to bed, and the two were
left alone-the unfortunate
woman and unhappy man. The
reaction after weeks and months
of over-indulgencc came at last.
Mrs. Melville became alarmingly
delirious. She threatened to Kill
her husband, drew a pistol on
and declared that she would
not only end his life but would
destroy her children and burn
down the house. Mr.. Melville
eft the house in order to paciiy
her. And the man who had
.ravcd death in its most dreadful
form without n tremor fled into
the dark night, miserable and
crushed in spirit. Fearing that
MS wife might do harm to herself
md her children he sent II man
pack to watch the house while he
vent to procure the aid ofmedical
and the counsel of friends.
Fhe result is alreGA Known.'
Another friend and neighbor of
he Melville family, to whose
house Engineer Melville went OIL
morning, says that she
never saw such a picture of grief
her life. For few moments
lie gave way to his feelings in a
lood of tears, with his head bowed
between his hands. He had been
without sleep all night, in anxious
,onsultation with Drs. Longstreth
If Sharon Hill, and Bartleson, Of
Clifton, and friends from Darby.
in the day the two doctors
listed Mrs. Melville, and, after a
CONSULTATION, signed n cc%iTcatc
her mind hnd h,on doron col
y enron" alcoholism, and dcllv-
rel 1t to her husband.
Engineer Melville, after further