Omaha daily bee., 1886-09-12
COLONEL BILLS ROMANCE.
An Officer Of the Mexican War and His
Pretty Wife
Rumors That Disturbed the Commu
nifty in Which He Lived-A
Triple Tragedy.


recalls a romantic tragedy which grew
out of our struggle with that country
forty years ago.
When volunteers came marching home
hundreds of handsome fellows among
them brought Mexican wives with them.
Among the fortunate ones was Colonel
Bill. l never got at the straight of It,
but it was said there was a mystery about
the colonel's marriage. Some of his sol.
diers said that in one of his foravs he had
captured a Mexican village. He looted
the place, picked out the prettiest seno.
ita in it, the daughter of old Don Juan
Gomez, a wealthy Castlian, and married
her by force of arms, rs it were There
was another story even worse than this.
1t was that the dashing colonel had car
ried off the beautiful wife of Mexican
general, and despite her tears and pro.
testations had made her submit TO the
farce of marriage ceremony performed
by an army chaplain.
These rumors, in various shapes, some.
times modified and sometimes embell-
ished, were whispered in the society cir
cles of the city of M for years after
thing of the story when my boyish curl
osity was excited by the somber gloom of
a tail, dark mansion in quiet quarter of
the city. AT the time | was not old
enough to understand the full import of
what | heard, but understood enough to
make me shudder.
Colonel Bill was seldom seen on the
streets of NJ He passed much of his
time on his plantation, few miles out,
and during the winter he spent weeks
and months in distant cities At first il
was said that he took his wife with him
on his travels, but as the years rolled on
he gradually began to neglect her; and
he would leave her for six months at
time shut up in the old mansion. The
mystery of the place took a strong hold
upon my youthful imagination, and |
never passed the house without scanning
ii closely. But it was impossible to make
any discoveries. The house stood in the
center of spacious grounds, so filled up
with trees and tropical shrubbery and
flowers that il was difficult to see much
from the street. In the rear was gar
den surrounded by hign brick wall
with grated openings, and through these
one could see what was going on inside
of the inclosure.
One day in passing heard voices. ]
looked through an opening in the wall
and saw the most beautiful woman that
nv eyes had ever beheld. | knew at once
that ii was the colonel's wife. She was
young woman, tall and graceful and her
dark face was illuminated by a pair of
glorious eyes that seemed TO be shining
through a mist of tears. This real crea
ture was not alone. She was accompa-
nied by young girl who appeared to be
her maid or companion. The two were
conversing in foreign tongue, and /
could not understand a word. The music
of their voices impressed me- and | gazed
at them so steadily that their attention
was attracted. The lady of the mansion
looked at me with a sad smile, and made
some remark TO her companion. Then
they walked over to the other side of the
garden, out of my sight.
Naturally | told what / had seen, and
people badgered me to death with ques-
tions / was asked to describe the beau
tiful Mexican lady.
Did she wear any diamonds" asked
an old gossip.
/ answered her that thought 1 saw
diamonds glitterng on her throat. in her
hair and on her hands.
No doubt of it," said my questioner,
''but the poor thing has very few of them
left.''
How Is that?" | asked
"Why, don't you know? But of course
you UDn l. wen, "Htn she HTSl Calle
here she had peck of diamonds. Even
was a diamond"
And where are they now"' l queried
in open-mouthed wonder.
That horrid old Colonel Bill has taken
them. The colonel is very bad man.
! can't tell little boy like you how bad
he is. Now, the colonel is always need
ing money for gambling and racing and
his other pleasures, and whenever he is
in tight place for few hundreds he
Just takes a handful of his wife's dia-
monds and that is the last of them
Such brutal meanness enraged me not
little, and | secretly resolved when
got big enough 10 give Colonel Bill a
genteel thrashing.
In the course of time ! caught more
than one glimpse of the colonel when he
was going to his plantation or returning.
He rode a fine horse, and generally
dashed along without looking either to
the right or to the left. lie was a very
handsome man OF about fifty, but his
face was stern and repellant. Selfish
ness, cruelty end even murder lurked in
that face. Although | had fully made up
my mind 10 call Colonel Bill Tn a bloody
account sometime in the distant future,
the sight of him was SO hateful to me
that j made ii q point to get out OF the
way Whcn l. saw MN coming. In the
meantime | made inquiries about the
charming Mexican. People raved over
her beauty. but very few had ever seen
her, She had never gone into society,
and had never been al home to visitors.
From the servants little or nothing could
be learned. They We're afraid of their
master and devoted 10 their mistress
Sull, il was generally agreed that Colonel
Bill was horribly cold and cruel TO his
wife. He was Jealous, too, an absurd
thing, as the poor lady never went any
where. / was told that some two or three
years after the couple had settled in
NJ they were visited BY old Don Juan
Gomez. The don did not have bit of
use for the wicked colonel, and wanted
to Kill him, but he yielded TO his daught-
er's entreaties, and before he left shelled
out diamonds and doubloons in the most
bewildering profusiOn. Then he sadly
went back 10 his hacienda in Mexico,
after eXachng a promise from his son-in-
law 10 behave himself. So the story ran,
and could not learn how much of il WAS
true ana how much false
One evening just after dusk, had oc-
casion 10 pass the house in which felt
such deep interest. A ffnelOoking man
evidently foreigner. was on the oppo-
site side of the street, Hooking at the
place He called me over and in very