Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-06-30
A STARTLING TALE.
ZoIa's SpiCisst 0utdone in Our State
by the Extraordinary
COMPLICATIONS OF TWO FAMILIES
Highly Connected in Writ COunty---A Mar
yelous Story Of Incest for the
Courts tc UnraYel.
FACTS MORE STRANGE THAN FICTION
Special 10 he Register.


ELi2ABErH. w. Va, June 29.--This qGiet
little town, the county seat of Writ, is beeu'
titulIy situated on the south bank of the
picturesque Little Kanawha river, about %
miles above PGrkersburs. To-day we fnd
he town full Of the good citizens Of the
county and quite a busy scsue is presented.
The Circuit Court hes been in session
since the 22d. Your reporter entered the
.,mpe OF Justice. On the bench sat Judge
). NJ. jackson clootacd IN his asuvl dignity
The Wood county bar was well represented
in the persons of Ex-Governor Jackson,
Hon. D. II. Leonard, Hon John Il. Hutch
-ou, J. ". Yandwort, W. n. Miller, l.. n.
Tavenner. Judge R. S. Brown of jackson
county, is here. The Writ county bar
we find present in fall force, all OF
ahom seem to have something to do. The
Grand Jury did not have much work to do
ard we're discharged by Judge Jackson on
Tuesday afternoon.
A Case of Most Sensational Nature
wiIl be heard in the near future
The singular developments so far
in the Gaze reads like scme startling
romance Of scandal and which when fully
known TO the world will be without parallel
N some points in the history of the case
II appears that recent grand jury indict.
ID one Chas. D. Sheppard and Jennie
Ruble for incest, the two, it is alleged,
Being Half Brother and Sister.
John Rub!e, the father OF the girl in ques
gou was one OF the many who gave their
,rrvces to their country during the late war,
aud from the Developments in the case II
seems that his wife was lett alone for three
wears and one Martin Sheppard, the father
u Cnas. d. Sheppard, indicted as above
COX mere than q friendly interest i'll the
Huble household and when the soldier hus
,snG returned to his home circle he was
very much astonshed and displeased to
fnd
The Increase in His Family,
sn event of which he had no precious kuoRi.
edge. A quarrel ensued but q reconcilia
ion was aiterward effected and the pair
nved together. AS the years sped on the
phair was almost forgotten and the parent
,ge of the Ruble girl unknown to the public
and but forths chain of events lately trausplr
ug the matter would never have been resur-
rected. One Of Martin Sheppard boys the
,boye noted, became enamored OF the Ruo!e
sirl, and was on the point of marrying her
qhen the father opposed the match and dis
.osed to the son that he, Martin Sheppard,
,yaa The sire OF lis gt'iauced and consequent.
" she was his half sister. This 0! itself
created a sensational no attempt was made
TO keep
The Startling Revelation
!u;ct Then few months after this oc-
.urred, it is alleged that the girl allowed
criminal intimacy with her late be'rothed
and his brother. and the whole trio were
indicted yesterday for incest. Now the
,trahgest and most sensational develop
menis occur. The mother Of the two Shep
pard boys, in order to save the boys from the
rdictment, makes affidavit that her sons,
although born in wedlock with her husband,
are
N,tthe Children of Her Husband,
Mart Sheppard, and thus publishing to the
world that she had been untaithIul to her
marriage VOWS, consequently the fruits OF
the unholy alliance were not related to the
Rube girl. Both families are well con
nected in the county, and Just what the out
come will be is hard TO predict. Judge Il.
). Brown, OF Jackson county, is engaged
Tor the defense.