Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1888-02-02

Love Affair aud the lswal Happy
Ewdiwg.

-. "OEE'u, NO.. Juu GA Weu-
ding OF more interest than is usually
attached to events where the parties
are SO little known occurred to-day
about four miles west of st. Joseph.
The contracting parties were W. II.
Potter, living near Denver, Col. and
trr'nIrn; Who for n fewyu7Iry
past has made her home with her
brother, Henry Withers, OF Doniphan
county, Kan. Both the parties are of
middle age and had not seen one
another for years until few months
ago. When they were children they
went to school together in Carroll
county, KY, and whes Potter was a
yonng man of twenty-One years and
came west he was betrothedl to Julia
Withers, who was the belle OF the
neighbOrhoOd. Potter went first to
Kansas and then to the mountains,
returning to visit his old home twice
in five years. On the last visit il was
agreed that the marriage should take
place the following spring, by which
lime he hoped to have enough money
to make his home what he thought in
should be. He returned west and was
not heard from for years. Some one
who had known him in the mounts ins
Happened to pass through his Ken
lucky home and circulated the story
Of his death, founded upon a rumor,
ms it afterward appeared. His sweet
heart mOurned him as dead. aud in
two years welded ais rival, wit h whom
she lived happily for about eight years.
Her husband died in 1883, when she
came to Doniphan county to live with
her brother, having no children and
no near relatives in Kentucky. :
Her husband left her n considerable
fortune. ana as her forty years sat !
lightly upon her, she soon became the :
center of an a'imiring circle OF friends. a
\ few months ago Potter came =
through st. Joseph, quite accidentIy, 4
on his way to Chicago. lie met With b
ers at the union depot, and, what is !
most singular, the men knew each 4
other. Explanationsfollow and Pot
ter was driven to the pleasant country a
home of the Withers family. He met
his sweetheart OF early days, and the -
Old love, which had not ceased / o burn
in their hearts through long years,
soon made itself felt. The court shin
where it had been broken
OF, and the two were married, leaving
this evening for Mr.. Potter's home N
near Denver. ii
The strange part of the story is yet 81
to come. Potter, while working in the e
mines. had been accused of numbering !, y
his partner. Not being able to es- =
tablish his Innocence at the trial, he ~
was convicted and the sentence COM 1,
to imprisonment for life, several "a
good reasons appearing for this. Too
proud to inform his sweetheart or y
family OF his disgrace. he did not write ~
any letters Nome abont it, and the -,
story of the crime did not reach them. !,
The murder was committed in n new ty
,lalm which Potter and his partner
had Just begun TO work in New Mexico, =
and 1t was not known there what part
1f the east he had come from. After
~ had been in prison nearly five years
I man who was to be hanged made n
clearly establishing Pot
er's innocence, and he was released. ms
He went at once to Client, Ky, but ii,
Ound his intended was anOther's. 81,
Without making himself known he left ia
he place and returned to Denver, ~
where he soon amassed "A considerable 10
ortune by speculations. He was on ~,
lis way to Chicago to dispose OF some 70,
when he aecidently met his raj
Id schoolmate, Henry Withers, i'm st.
oseph. The wedding is one OF the hi'
lost singular, because OF the peculiar ~, ,.'
istory connected with it, that has ~ ~,
yer occurred IN this section of the ,,,
puniry.