Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-07-15
A TALE OF WOE,
Which Begins at the Pleasant Home
of a Quiet and PeacsabIs
Ohio Farmer,
And Winds Up at Las Vegas,
New Mexico, With a Ter
rible Trageay.
A Stranger Who Was Sheltered
When Astray Dscsives An
Innocent Girl.

hlfLEl, W. JulS lf-1utre 10 sS} III
that when girl deliberately chooses to g
to the bad, the course is a remarkably
rapid one. In the shadow Of the Sunfi,t
mountains, in the northwestern part o.
Adams county, this State, region Of desc
lation inconceivably desolate, noted witha
for its wild and picturesque scenery, ther,
resided farmer named Jefferson Werndoa
He came to that section, accompanied By
his wife and baby daughter, in the autumn
OF "a, near the close OF the civil war. Al
that time the inhabitants OF that region
were few and far between, and il is YET
very
sparseIy settled.
Wernfon was supposed to be Southern
refugee, who had wandered TO that wild
spot for the quiet and peace that were de.
MED him in the Southland.
Time passed on, says correspondent cf
the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, ani
the baby daughter, Thora, developed into
a lovely child. She seon became an apt
student of nature and natures ways, her
bright girlhood being passed in roaming
the forests and glades Of that romantic re-
gion, and the lessons it taught her were
treasured as priceless gems.
On a sprinG-day evening in 1880 there
came riding up the rugged path OF the
ravine leading to the house
Solitary Herseman.
As lie drew near, Werndon went out to
meet him, and found that he had mistaken
his road and had wandered up the path in
the hope Of its bringing him nearer his
destination. He was told that the path be.
came impossible on horseback short dis.
tante above, and as the evening shadows
were rapidly deepening and travelling was
dangerous after nightfall to one unarCus.
fomed 10 the rough country, Werndon,
with true Southern hospitality invited
him 10 remain over night which in
yitat.On was accepted with pleas
IRE by the stranger, who
gave him his name as Edward Lake. H"
was a remarkably handsome man, appsr.
entity twenty-five years o! age, by profes
sion civil engineer, who was in that
region for the purpose OF surveying and
recording Government lands, OF which
there are many thousand acres in that vi.
cinity. He was introduced to Mrs. Wern-
don and Thora, and his brilliant converse
ton and engaging ways evidencing re-
fined culture and thorough knowledge
of the world, soon placed all at ease, and
the evening was only too short for the
Young girl who listened with almost
Breathless Interest
to the constant revelations the strangers
conversation disclosed. She no longer
found delight in roaming the woods and
dales, but an irrepressble longing arose in
her heart for the wonders beyond her
present narrow sphere. Lake, knowing
the power he held over her, and learning
her discontented longings, forgot the obli.
cations under which he had won her friend.
4. d 10 OF
man, and through the sacred promise OF
marriage lured her TO destruction. The
guilty couple fed on dismal night in
June. and went direct to st. Louis, where
Lake represented that he had wealthy and
influential relatives. The shock TO her
parents was as sudden and and the effect as
sure as lightning stroke. The mother
succumbed to an attack OF brain fever, and
was laid away in quiet spot on the noun
tain side.
Crushed by the DOubIc Loss
Werndon became a raving maniac, and was
iuCarcCrated in q private asylum by his
friends, Lake soon became weary of the
girl whom he had so cruelty wronged, and
fled TO Chicago, where he had wife and
child. This was a crushing denouement to
the girl who had relinquished home and
everything for him. Finding her limited
resources gradually becoming less aHd less,
she was forced, by the necessity OF exist
enCe, to do what many others in similar
circumstances have done, and entered a
fashionable ridisDH de j0ie on Chestnut
street OF that city, her matchless beauty
fairly carrying the city by storm and ere.
ating an envious jealousy among the frail
hcauties OF the place. Under the smiling
exterior however. there vas heart heavy
With the burden Of sin, and longing arose
for the old home in the ntountsins OF Ohio
until the piuing, dropping spirit OF the
wayward girl gave way, and She who had
captiyated the gay city with her
Wopdrous Beauty
vas but q wreck OF her former self. No
onger being source OF profit TO
the proprietreSs OF the elegant man.
sion of sin, she was told to go; and in one
short year after leaving her childhOois
home, she was wanderer up and down the
Garth. friendess and unknown. In the
summer OF lSs0 she had drifted 10 this
town, and was an inmate OF one of the
vilest dens OF iniquity. The troue,.
les OF mind diseased, combined
with a total physical wreck, thraS her into
an attack of nervous fever, from which she
was told by the physician in charge she
could not recover. She gave him the story
inst as / tell it here, and as last request
she desired 10 be buried in the shadow OF
The mountain she had loved so we'll, with
nothing but the pine trees above her tn
sigh an eternal requiem. Her request was
faithfully complied with. and
They made her a grave where the sunbeams
When they promise glorious morrow,
They'll shine DER her sleep, ike smile from
From her own loved island OF sorrow"
Only the other day the closing scene in
this drama OF real life, was enacted as fol-
lows:
Killed.
LAS VEGAS. y. NJ, June y. Lake, the
proprietor of the largest gambling house
in this city, vas shot and instantly XII
in his establishment by a stranger, who had
arrived On the morning train from the
East. Witnessing the effect OF the shot,
the stranger deliberately placed the weapon
10 his own head and fired, causing fatal
wound. He lived a short time and gave
his name as Werndon, from Adams county,
Ohio, and stated that Lake had betrayed
his daughter. Having accomplished hi,
revenge, he no longer desired TO live.
Prfsoners Sentenced.
Special 10 the Register.
PAREERsRUEG, July l4.-Rsleigh Evan,
wa. con yicted of rape in the Wood county
Circuit Court to-day, and will be sentene-t
,o the penitrntiaYy on Monday, together