Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-07-12
Allen ThOrndike Rice.
George Tieknor Curtis RecolIeetions
OF Sensation of Nearly Forty
Years Ago.
When a Noted Man Dies His History
Becomes Public Property.

10 the Editor of the New York Sun
SIT: 1t Is crest pity that the propep.
slty to work up sensational stories of
family histories should have led to such
an unfoupded riganIarole as that in the
New YORK Times concerning the late
Thorndike Rec and his parents. His
story Is one that cannot be revived with
ort giving pain to living persons, how
ever truthfuily II may be told: aud when
1t Is told pufaIthfully, we cannot restrain
q righteous iudiSuStiou. knew Nj,
1hoTnd'ke Rjce's father and mother De
tore they were married. | was their
nelghSor IN Boston when their child WAS
born. l knew the families on both sides.
and knew at the time the circumstances
attending Mrs. RIce's departure from
Boston with her chlld, then an infant. |
shall say but little concerning Mrs. Rice:
Int a. the account in the Times repre-
SCENTS her husband rs sort OF brute,
and represents her As forced To leave him,
shall take 1t upon nue. to contradict 20
much of the story as relates to oue of the
mo It amlable, worthy, and innocent Young
men / ever knew.
Henry Rice was the son of Bast. IL
merchant of great responsibility, but of
moderate property. Be was ABOUT orc
and 20 when he married Miss Tuorudike.
She was granddaughter of Israel thorn
dixie, very wealthy merchant IA Boston.
The marriage took place in the spring of
1850, thirty nine years ago. The new
y married couple Went to Europe on a
wedding tour. | WAS in Loudon when
hey arrived there, aud met them at din.
ner at the house of Mr.. Russell Sturgis,
"
some months on the continent 1t was
we'll understood at the time that Mr.. Rice
was very much in love with his wife, and
this was apparent 20 all who saw them TO
gether. 1t was equally well understood
tnat before th.lr marriage drs. Rice was
not much in love with the young mar
whom she did accept, but she was per
! lee, ly fee to choose, and h choss to
| marry him. The child was bo-n after
they returned to Boston. Not long after
ward, when the child was not more than
,, or at the most 8 years old, Mrs.
Rice suddenly left Boston, taking her
child with her, and her husband was en-
gagged for several years in fruitless eff
| forts TO find her, and TO induce her to re
turn to her proper home.
[ think am qualified to speak with
some certainty of Mr.. Rice's fouduess for
I his wife. Soon after their engagement
diued one day at his fathers house, with
other young people who were in the same
| society, and she aud her accepted lover
were present. 1t Was evident To us all
that he was deeply i'll love with her, and
at the same time We all understood that
| she was not much attached to him.
| Young people at suSh times are pretty
| apt to know a good deal about each
| other. Miss Thorndike was handsome
girl, and very fasciD ating.
After the lapse Of the period required
by the law of Massachusetts, Mr.. Rice
| obtained divorce on account of his
wife's desertiou of him. He never mar
| ried again. He died early, and every one
In the society in which they both be
lopSed was aware that the loss of his wife
| and child made HIM q broken hearted
man. He was entirely blameless in the
| whole matter. After the divorce Mrs.
| Rice lived without any concea'ment some
| where ID Germany, and eventually she
| married a German, who had been her
| sons tutor for some time. He was said
| TO have been man of much force of
character, and to have had much more in
fiuencs over the lady than any one else
VINO had ever been connected with her
She died very painful death IN conse-
| quence of her clothes accit eutalIy taking
fire.
There is long and circLmstantiaI &C
| count In the Times narrative about Mr.
| Kelley, of Vermont, who is said to have
aided Mrs. Rice in COnce aliDg herself
| aud her child from the detectives" who
| were employed by her husband, aud her
escape is represented to have been from
a cruelty worse than DEATH" This dark
insinuatiOn it would puzzle the writer in
the Times to explain. l never heard that
| Henry Rice employed "dete ,tives.'
Such persons were not known at that
time. He did, what his duty as hus-
band and father required of him, endeav'
or by all proper IN, aus to find his wife
and child. There may have been a Mr.
| Kelley or Il Mr.. Somebody Else, who
helped Mrs. Rice to conceal herself and
her child, and to get away to Europe, fol
| SIZE must have had some assistance at the
| time.
The Tines article represents the search
| 10 have been made when the boy was
| years old. But tho fact ia she LETT Boston
and took away her child when he was a
most not more than or 3 years old. The
boy was never in this country again unit
after he had grown up and taken d.
| gree Al Oxford.
All that part of the story in the Timet
| about letters from Mr.. Rice's mother
acknowledging Mr.. Kelley's services and
| years afterward sent to ThorndIke Rice
| who suppressed them, and the nonsense
| about the danger of poison incurred b.
| Mrs. Rice in her husbands house is bosh
| 1t will be received with horror and in
digDation by every living member Of
| both families, for they all know, rs dc
The persons of my age in Boston who are
acquainted with the facts, that Henry
Rice was most excellent young man, and
| that his wife's desertion of him WIS en-
! tirely due 10 q Certain wayWaTdness III
| her disposition. II was never suspi cited
| or infatuated that she had been led astray
by some one el-e. The grosser kind of
| if fidelity TO her husband was never i'm
pu ed to her. GEORGE fICKN0R CURTIS.
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