The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-03-21
THE MAcKEY ROMANCE.
Augusta constitutionaiist.l

| QWeu ln OaNfOfn1a lamlIy OI three per sons, father, mother and daughter. The latter was a mere child. All were young The father was a physician. Unfor- tunately he injured his not very extensive practice by intemperance. His habits became SD di-sipated that the poor wife despairing of his reformation, and also of the possibility of independent action on her own part to secure support for herself and child, proposed separation. The man agreed to it; but he was not put out like Rip Van Wrinkle. He was assured that while he lived she would never cease to help him, and that when he mended his ways their old relations should be restored. He departed to cure himself, if possible, and become worthy of the woman who, sorely beset, under took the maintenance of the family. En- couraged by his wife's prayers, letters and heroic conduct, the doctor redeemed himself. At least he thought so, and his poor wife was more than willing to be- lieve it. He returned to her home and heart, warmly welcomed back to both. Unluckily, he had either miscalculated his will power, or the demon of indul- gence was simply asleep. and by no means dead within him, He went back to his cups, and very soon the skeleton finger of poverty was laid upon his do- mestic affairs. The devoted wife, un- willing to undertake an experimental sep- aration, and unable to remain where she was, determined ts try what change of scene would do for this miserable man who, naturally kind, talented and whole some, seemed to be insanely abandoned to the devil of strong drink. lust at this crisis rumors had reached California of the Comstock lode discovery, and thither many of the mining population drifted. Across the Sierras to Virginia City this little and most wretched family jour neyed.
 The doctor pulled himself together for a while and did some business, but his health was gone, and very soon he died. Widow and orphan were left in the very depths of poverty. The generous miners clubbed together to bury the doctor. They made up purse for the mother and child from time to time, and thus saved both from utter deprivation of food, shelter and raiment. There was at that time superintendent of one of the mines sturdy young Irishman who, from the lowest rounds of the ladder, had be- gun to push his way to fortune. He was not then more than moderately well of, and little dreamed of the Monte Cristo casket in store for him. He used to carry the weekly or monthly stipend to the widow, and his visits to her became more and more frequent At last he married her, and her days of fear on the score of poverty were over. She possessed well-to-do husband, who was the master of his possessions, and certain to make his way in the world. But in the days of distress the unhappy woman had re- sorted to the morphine habit, and could not, of her own effort, release herself from it. A young physician of Virginia City, who had recently graduated in France, informed her that if she would visit Paris and put herself implicitly under the care of his old master there, her cure could be guaranteed. While the husband remained to uncover. with the present junior senator from Nevada, the richest silver deposit the world has ever known, the wife crossed the seas and submitted to rigorous medical treat ment. It was successful after many months of endurance. Meanwhile the famous California and consolidated Vlr- ginia mines were penetrated by the hus- band, and the world-renowned bonanza, of which he was principal owner, made him at least forty times a millionaire The wife in Paris, now perfectly cured and blooming, at once rose into promi- hence and celebrity, for how could the mafvel-loving Parisians help adoring a | to1arN, matched by such fabulous wealth so TO- mantically discovered For years this lady, who is no other than Mrs. John Mackey, has been silver queen in the most splendid capital of Europe. She has lived in palaces. Noblemen and men of genius have paid court at her shrine.
 Now all Paris, and therefore all the universe, is in a ferment over the ap- preaching marriage of Miss Mackey and the Prince Colonna. The drift is nup- tially to Rome, the city of the soul, and to Italian nobility. It is a miraculously bridging of the chasm that lies between the mining gulch of the Nevada moun- tains and St. Peters church, where stands in supernal splendor the grandest dome that mortal hand has painted against Gods lsveliest sky" Little did the widow of the wretched doctor of Virginia City imagine that she would fairly roll in wealth, dwell in palaces, be courte6 by church and state, be familiarly associated with the proudest names of the de- scendants of the Crusaders, and finally become the mother-in-law of a Prince Colonna, whose nobility dates back almost to the time of Saladin. The family name is as famous as any in his- tory, and the heir of the Colonna family is At 27 years of age to wed the daughter of the poor doctor who fell by the way side in Nevada and sleeps his last sleep in that stony desert.
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