The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-08-06
Twice Married.
a STRANGE BUT TRUE STORY.


~ sued in Chicago Il short tim
Xn& ago, connected with whic
eM7a there is a story as strange a
any ever conceived in the brain 0
a professional story-teller. 1t is
story which requires not the art 0
the story teller to make 1t interest
ing; the bare facts are enough. III
parties to the contract were married
over seven years ago, were neve
divorced and yet procured a licens
to get married again. To begin a
the beginning:
In the spring of 1878 Wilhelm
Hermann emigrated from his nativ'
home in Wurtemburg, Germany, in
tending to settle with some relative
in "a small town IN the state o
Louisiana. When he got as far al
New Orleans he decided to stOI
there some time. and about two
months after his arrival he was
married to Amelia Rettich, daugh
ter of an old German resident o.
that city. Three days after his
marriage he was enticed by chance
acquaintance into one OF the low
beer saloons on the levee at New
Orleans, was dragged, robbed and
carried aboard 81 German trading
vessel bound for Newcastle, Eng
land. 1t was eight months later
before the vessel reached that port.
Immediately on gaining his liberty
Hermann sought the German con
sal at Newcastle and narrated the
story of his wrongs. He begged
the consul to assist him to return to
his wife and home at New Orleans
without delay; but the consul re-
fused, saying that, as Hermann had
no naturalization papers or any
thing in the way of legal claim on
the United States, he was still q
German citizen. Then the consul
sent for the captain of the vessel
and compelled him to deliver Her
mann to the German authorities.
On his arrival at Berlin he was
pressed into the army and bound
over to four years term of mill
tary service. He underwent the
drudgery and severe discipline to
which unwilling recruits are sub
jected in the German army for a
space of nearly three years, when,
seeing u chance to escape from the
country, he deserted. All this time
he had been constantly looking for
ward with an all-abiding faith, and
love, and hope to a reunion with his
bride. He reached New Orleans
exactly four years after his first ar
rival in that city. He then learned
that his wife, thinking he was dead,
had married again and had left the
city, no one knew whittier. He
started out to search for her. For
nearly a year he wandered over the
greater part of the southern states,
following many clews which turned
out to be false, until at last he re-
ceived a letter from herself. She
told him that she had given him up
for lost until she CHANGED to see his
for her on a stray
page of New Orleans newspaper;
that she had married VIM. Chap
man; that her second husband had
been rather unfortunate in bust
ness and had changed his place of
residence several times hoping for
better luck; and that they had now
settled down in a small frontier
town in Western Kansas. She pro-
posed to leave Chapman and go
with him, her own true husband if
be came for her. He Immediately
started for Tabuta, Kansas, where
his wife resided, arriving there five
lays later. The day following his
arrival, VIM. Chapman, the second
husband, was found lying dead on
lis own doorstep with 4 bullet
-hrc ugh his brain. Two days later
Hermann was arrested and lodged |
in the county Jail on charge of
Yillful murder.
TIE morning following the arrest
,he prisoner was taken before the
Ocal Justice for examination. A |
crowd of rough, bearded frontiers
men thrOnged the little room where
the proceedings were held. Justice
was usually swift and stern in that
district; in serious crimes Judge |
Lynch reigned supreme. In this
case, so far as the spectators knew,
The prisoner had been arrested on
mere suspicion as being a stranger. |
If evidence turned up to prove him
guilty there was no Jail strong
enough to hold him from the ven
geance Of the people, nor any legal
power sufficient to stay the execu
ton of his death-warrant or punish |
those who carried it out.
The first witness was Mrs. Chap
man, a fair, childish looking little
woman, whose woe begone face and |
widows weed sent q murmur of
sympathy through the spectators.
She testified that the previous Sun
lay evening she had paid visit to
1 neighbor. Had been gone about
IN hour and on coming home found
ler husband lying dead on the door
step. Her husband did not carry a
pistol; there had never been a pis-
.ol in the house to her knowledge
She believed her husband had no
reason to commit suicide; was Ger
ain he would not do such a thing.
He had sold cattle few days before
md had the money in his pocket
book that day-$I20 in currency.
He had a small gold watch in his
pocket, with a black silk ribbon and
,harm attached. The watch was
lers-a present from her mother
several years ago. Both money and
watch had disappeared. She did
rot miss them until the day after,
wing to the excitement. She pre-
iumed robbery had been the mo-
i've for the crime; she knew of no
,ther.
"Do you know the prisonerY ask
ID the judge.
"Yes," she faltered.
"Do you know his business in
coming hereG'
No reply. The question was re