Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1886-07-20
BUCHANAN's TRAGIC LOVE
STORY.
wa.hLaslon I.,ller b chIeaEo New,-l ]

fwA,hlngion Letter io Chicago Ncwal
Pre,iden, Buchanan. love story is
historic. and reads more like a eoaven.
,ion.l novel Of fifty year, ago than plain
fact. ia, !, happened jus, az tragedies
happen every day ,hA, are many times
stranger than fiction. When he was
poor young lawyer. he became engaged
10 Mis-, Coleman. who belonged TO one OF
the richest, .,sidss,. and, IL may be as
.umed, nAuowe,, minded and mos, pur'
blind familie. Ia Phil.delphia. The
Coleman. by no means approved OF the
match. bat. nevertheless. the young
couple became engaged. Mr.. buchanan
va. then practising law in a remote part
Of Penn.ylvAnia. aud in those days OF
stage coaches and saddle bag, correspond
enee was liable 10 interruptions. Miss
Colemln's letters became irregular and
then stopped altogether. lie wrote re-
peA,edly. ba, 20, DO reply. A, las, he
determined TO 20 PhilAdelphii. ba, a.
Lancaster the stage met with an accident
and Mr.. Buchanan suffered a broken leg.
He wrote again as soon as he was able,
bu, .till heard nothing. Laid up in a
country ,avern.in the mids, Of phenom.
email snows,orm, for sir weeks, embi,iered
him and he wrote Miss Coleman letter
Of fierce reproaehes. and then wrote no
more Now for Mis-. Coleman's part. Her
eminen,ly respectable family from the be.
ginning intercepted all Of her letter, and
all Of Mr. BuehanAns. She made all the
appeal. to him a woman could make, but
she never had a line from him. after he
lef, Philadelphia, exeep, tha, las,eu,,ins
letter, and as. unfortunately, !, contained
nothing but hi. renuneia,ion Of her. she
could know nothing Of what bad preceded
il. The eminen,ly respectable family
were sA,i.fed-the match vas broken oif
by mean. tha, would have landed them
ali in the peni,en,iary in these days.
Ayear or two AfIerwArd Mr. buchanan
wa. IN Philadelphia. and A. q ball came
face 10 face with Mis-. Coleman. Neither
spoke, and Mr.. Buchanan paid marked
attention to another girl present. That
nigh, a young friend who was staying
with Miss Coleman said to her, while the
two girl. were alone in their room; "Did
you see Mr.. Baehanans attentions to Miss
=, Now. they might have been yours
had you recognized him Miss Coleman
began to sob viOlen,ly. She would no. be
soo,hed, and her friend. becoming alarm
ed, called the family. or what nex, hap
pened two accounts have been given; one
was tha, she had taken poison and her
.uderings afterward came from thAt-ba,
those who were near her said thA, she was
simply suffering from uncon,rollAble men
tai anguish. Toward morning. when her
pulse had 20, so low that !, was scarcely
pereep,ible, and her nervous excitement
had changed into profound 'iupor, the
doctors were sent for. But she was past
help. They never reused her, aud she
died the mex, day Of wha. the doctors
called nervous exhaustion, but which al
50 goes BY the name OF broken heart.
Then the truth came to Mr.. Buchanan $
ears, and from that day bis bachelorhood
was assured. When he was President,
the story WAS generally known. and there
were no reports about his marriage s
long a. he was in the White House.