San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-03-01
A WOMAN'S MADNESS.
..,,, smith Filings Reputation 10 the Winds
m and Follows . Lover.

Matt
N ,'saItby livery stable keeper of San
sW. s; Tex, stating that she intend
y making Mrs. Sargent a long visit,
eu would probably stay in st. Louis
am ~, smring. On Wednesday evening
w. W. Smith arrived, and was met by
.h0 sargents at the depot. She made
S0r exit from the cars accompanied
h hV' q tall gentleman, who seemed to
~ having her great attention. On
S0d;ng that a carriage was in attend
ance and no further services required,
Sa took his leave, and the party pro-
a az to DR.. Sargent's residence,
ISO8 Olive Street. On the way Mrs.
smith stated that she had made the
scnuaintance of her escort, whom she
called Mr.. Mudd, on the train, and
smong other delicate little attentions
Se had offered to take her to the
e. James Hotel. Although this SEEM
al rather q breach of gentlemanly de-
corum, nothing more was thought of
the matter by the Sargents till Fri
day morning, when Mrs. Smith mys-
teriously disappeared. Foul play be-
inc suspected, information was given
at the Four Courts with a description
Of the lady. The theory of kidnapping
was advanced by the friends, as Mrs.
Smith was supposed to have $40, 900
in her possession, and as she could
not have been abducted from the
house of her relatives by violent
means without creating an alarm, it
was urged that her capturers had had
recourse to chloroform. The detect
ives 90 slow on abduction cases, and
they simply contented themselves
with keeping an eye on Mrs. Smiths
trunk, which was still at the depot.
On Sunday the check for the trunk was
presented. The claimant was the
dark-eyed Mr.. Mudd, and he was ia
ken to the station, where he gave his
name as Charles M. Harris. He
stated that he had not used any vio-
lence in regard to Mrs. Smith, but
that she had followed him through
love, having become perfectly infatu-
ated with him. He offered. to con-
duct an officer into the presence of
Mrs. Smith that his statement might
be confirmed by the lady herself. Ac-
cordingly an officer accompanied Mr..
Harris to 119 North Thirteenth
street, where Mrs. Smith not only con-
frmed Harriss story, but gave the
policemen piece of her mind into
the bargain for daring to pry into her
affairs. On Sunday night Harris
took the Chicago & Alton road for
Chicago, Mrs. Smith supplying him
with funds from large roll of bills,
which she showed at the boarding
house on Thirteenth street. The peo-
pie of the latter place say she came
their early Friday morning, reporting
that she was the wife of Harris, and
asking to be shown to his room. An
attempt was made to detain Mrs.
Smith at the depot yesterday morning
when she came there to take the Chi
cago train. On one pretext she was
kept from taking the Chicago & Alton,
but climbed on the Wabash just as it
was leaving. She failed to check her
trunk, and it still remained in the
custody of the baggage master last
night. Her infatuation with Harris
is such that she seems utterly indif-
terent to reputation or consequences.
Harris was employed here several
months ago by Mosconi, the oyster
dealer. He went South and on his
return told of his Irritation with Mrs.
Smith, whose husband, he says, tried
to have him run out of town. He
seemed to take the present escapade
very coolly, and according to his &C
quaintances he had been in woman
Scrapes" before. He has wife and
relatives in Cincinnati who are said
to be well-to-do. A young man
named Joe Vaughn was a friend of
Harris and boarded at 800 North Sew
enth street. When Harris left Sun
day night Vaughn undertook to look
after Mrs. Smiths baggage and see
that she got away yesterday morning.
When the woman missed the Chicago
and Alton train she turned and hand
ed the ticket to Vaughn. He was
missing last night and the report was
that he had gone to Chicago, too:
Mrs. Smiths husband was expected
to arrive here last night, and hence
the anxiety to detain her here as long
as possible.