The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-09-25
Blaine Explains.
rnr 49, sroRY on ms coInrsu1p 49,

TIE FULL STORY OF HIS COURTsHIP AND
DOUBLE MARRIAGE TOLD.
New YORK, Sept. 19.-IIon. William
Walter Phelps takes the responsibility of
giving to the public the following private
letter, addressed to him nearly two weeks
ago:
AUGUSTA, Sept. My DEAR MIR.
PHELPS: have your favor Of the 4th, adj
vising me that 1.-THE continuous invention
and wide circulation of evil reports render
it advisable lin your judgment) not to
wait the slow process of law, but to speak
directly to the public in my own vindica-
ton" In this opinion many others on
whose Judgment | rely concur
l shrink instinctiyely from the sugges-
ton, although feel sure could strengthen
the confidence of all who felt friendly to
me by bringing to view the simple thread
of truth which is concealed in the endless
tissue of falsehood. You can imagine how
inexpressibly painful it must be to discuss
ones domestic life in the press, although |
think with you, that under the circum-
stances I could count upon the generosity
of the public to justify statement which
otherwise might seem Objectionable. l
can. in any event, safely commit the facts
to you for personal communication to
those friends who have taken so delicate
and so considerate an interest in my affairs.
The leisure hours of to-day, when our cam
paign is ended and we wait only for the
election, gives me the opportunity for this
prompt reply, and for the following essen
tial details.
At Georgetown, KY, in the spring OF
1S48. when l was but Is years of age |
first met the lady who for more than thirty
four years has been my wife. Our ac-
quaintance resulted. at the end of six
months, in an engagement, which. without
the prospect Of speedy marriage, we natur
ally sought to keep to ourselves. Two
years later, in the spring of 1850, when l
was maturing plans to leave my profession
in Kentucky and establish myself else
where, was suddenly summoned TO Penn
sylvania by the death of my father. 1t be-
ing very doubtful if could return to Ken
lucky, was threatened with an indefinite
separation from her who possessed my en-
tire devotion. My one wish was to secure
her to myself by an indissoluble tie against
every possible contingency in life. ami on
my departure from Kentucky, we We're in
the presence of chosen and trusted frie. dis.
united by what / knew was, in my nativ
state of Pennsylvania, a perfectly legal
form of marriage.
On reaching home found that my fam
lily, and especially my bereaved mother,
strongly discountenanced my business
plans, as involving too long a separation
from home and kindred. | complied with
her wish that / should resume, at least for
time, my occupation in Kentucky,
whittier l returned in the latter part of
August. During the ensuing winter, in
duced by misgivings under new response
bilities-misgivings which were increased
hxr1n S,nt c,,lt of nI, ,o1
lest a doubt might be thrown upon the
validity of our marriage by reason of nom
compliance with the law of the state where
it had occurred-for had learned that the
laws OF Kentucky made license certified
by the clerk of the county count an indis-
penSable requisite of q legal marriage.
After much deliberatlon. and with an anx-
ious desire to guard in the most effectual
manner against any possible embarrass-
ment resulting from our position-for
which | alone was responsible. we decided
that the simplest. and at the same time
the sureSt way WAS TO repair to PennSyl-
vania and have another marriage service
performed. This was done in the presence
OF witnesses, in the city of Pittsburg, in
the month of March, 1851 but was not
otherwise made public for obvious reasons.
1t was solemnized only to secure an indis-
putable validity, the first marriage being
by my wife and myself always held sacred.
AT the mature age of 81 | do not defend
the wisdom or prudence of a secret mar
riage, suggested by the ardor and the mex
perience of youth; but its honor
and its purity were inviolate, us |
believe, in the sight of God, and cannot he
made to appear otherwise by the wicked
deviSeS of men. 1t brought to me a COM
panionship which has been my chief happ-
ness from boyhood's years to this year, and
has crowned me with whatever of success
have attained in life. My eldest child, a
son, was born in his grandmother house
an the 18th day of June, 1851, in the city of
Augusta, Maine, and died in her arms
three years later His ashes repose in the
cemetery of his native city, beneath stone
which recorded his name and the limits of
his innocent life. That stone, which had
stood for almost an entire generation, has
been recently defaced by brutal and sacre-
ligiouS hands.
AS q candidate for the presidency knew
that | should encounter many forms of ca
lumny and personal defamation, but con-
TESS that did not expect to be called upon
to defend the name of beloved and hon
Ored wife, who is q mother and q grand |
mother, nor did expect that the grave of |
my little child would beefpelly desecrated. |
Against such gross forms of wrong. the
law gives no adequate redress, and know
that in the end my most effective appeal |
against the unspeakabe outrages which | |
resist must be to the noble manhood and |
the noble womanhood of America. Your
friend, very sincerely, JAMES G. BLAINE.
VnGf a NIL nth