Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-09-22
A RUINED HOME.
The Other Side OF the Melville Family
Story-A Wife and Mother, Crazed
by the Love or
strong Drink, Threatens she Lives OF
Her Husband and Children and
Forces Him 10 Flee.

PHILADELPHIA, September 19.-The Rec.
ord has the following: When Engineer Mel
vile left his home to join the Inflated jean
nette expedition, among the last persons he
saw was the good old physician who had at
Sharon Hill, DIR. Longstrsth. A cloud had
arisen in Melville's domestic life. His wife
had acquired an appetite for drink, which
had more than once involved her 10 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 ground for hope, the engineer left his
family with many misgivings. He asked his
friends to look after his wife and the little
girls, and one day, taking the family doctor
aside, said to him: "Look after them, doctor.
l leave 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 negro walters were conspicuous. A
Sharon Hill friend of Engineer Melville, a
lady who lives within a hundred yards OF
| the Melville cottage, said: "Poor Melville's
heart was almost crushed. He had heard in
New York stories which prepared him to
find that Mrs. Melville had not given up her
| unfortunate habit, and these reports had
4
| phis, but for the terrible reality which was
| 10 confront him upon the threshold of his
home he had not been prepared. Don't
misunderstood me-" added the lady. al
don't mean TO say a word that nigh do Mrs.
Melville an injustice. She is a most gener-
QUE, kind-hearted and sympathetic neighbor.
A mother who loved her children and took
| excellent care of them in way / think
| that she is also fond oil her husband and
proud of his fame, bat the demon which held
possession Of her has clouded her whole life
and involved her unhappy family in such
distress as is painful TO think of"
As soon as Engineer Melville had greeted
his children, he went into the sitting-room,
where his wife was waiting 10 receive him.
He saw too truly that his worst suspicious
we're to be realized. Opiates and drugs had
been given to her, in the hope that she
might tide over the night. Once during
the evening she broke away from the recep-
tion-room and went to the kitchen, where,
in company with the colored walters and
others, she drank three glasses of wine and
other liquors.
When the guests had departed and the
children had been put to bed, the two were |
left alone-the unfortunate woman and the |
unhappy man. The reaction after weeks |
and months OF over indulgence came at last. |
Mrs. Melville became alarminly delirious |
She threatened to kill her husband, drew |
piotOA On nun ANU ueCldTeO sue WOulQ not /
only end his life, but would destroy her |
children and burn down the house.
Mr.. Melville then left the house in order |
to PacIfy her, and the man who had braved /
death in its nios dreadful form without a /
tremor fed into the Dark night, miserable |
and crushed in spirit. Fearing that his wife
might do harm to herself ald her children,
he cent man back TO watch the house while |
he went for medical advice and the counsel |
OF friends. The result is already known.
Another neighbor and friend Of the Mel
vile family, to whose house Engineer Mel
vile went on Sunday morning, says that she
never saw such picture of grief in her life
For few moments he gave way TO his feel
Ings IN flood OF tesrs, with his head bowed
between his hands. He had been without
sleep all night in anxious consultation with
Dire. Longstreth, of Sharon Hill, and Bartle-
son, OF Clifton, and friends from Darby.
Later in the day the two doctors visited
Mrs. Melville, and after a consultation
signed certificate that her mind had been |
deranged by chronic alcoholism, and deliv-
cred it to her husband.
As 10 The sanity or INSANITY of Mrs Mel
vile when not under the influence of liquor,
each doctor declined to express an opinion
She has been considered unba ID in mind
Tor long time. Her mother died insane,
and her aunt died ia an insane asylum some
years ago. Mr.. Melville was compelled TO
publish warning 10 the public not to trust |
ms wife on his account. She il an excellent
shot with a pistol or rifle, and on the occx-
ZION OF her recent visit TO Washington 10 in |
erview Secretary Chandler about her allot-
nent she threatened to shoot that Official.
Nh F. P. BoSsER, of MeadviIIe, Pa,