The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1889-03-14
A WAR ROMANCE.
Another Instance of the Stsange Things
Civil War makes Possible.

war broke out. He left behind him
a young wife, having been married
only few months. Holden was a
good soldier, and only once during
the war did he obtain furlough
and visit his wife. He was at home
tor short time in the summer of
1868, and soon after he returned to
the war he was taken prisoner. Be-
fore Holden had an opportunity of
writing to his wife after his capture,
he was taken i'll with slow mala-
rial fever. When captured, Holden
had become separated from his
company, and his comrades thought
he had been killed in battle. Mrs.
Holden's first notice of the suppos-
ed death of her husband was con-
tanned in some resolutions passed by
his company, copy of which was
forwarded to the family. Without
making any investigation, Mrs. Hol-
den mourned her husband as dead,
while he was lingering between life
and death in northern prison. Il
was many months before he fully re-
covered from the effects of the terri
BILE fever. Holden was not released
until after the close of the war, and,
weak from his long illness and pen
nlless, he started to make his way
to the little home in Georgia. He
was compelled to seek employment
several times to earn money to con-
tinue his journey, and it was late in
the autumn af 1865 when Holden
came in sight of the little home.
lie was a wreck of his former self,
and fully realized that it would BIZ
difficult for his own wife to recog-
nize him.
Arriving at the home he had lett
more than two years before, Holden
found it occupied by strangers
Without disclosing his identity he
asked where Mrs. Holden was.-
"Oh, she married Chris Jones and
moved away last spring. was the
answer he received.
Holden was Frustrated by the
shock Of this startling intelligence,
but without giving his name, he
turned and walked slowly away from
the little home where the happiest
hours of his life had been passed.
lie maze no effort to find his wife,
but continued his journey to Clay
county, Alabama. Holden worked
a while as a farm laborer, and final
ly saved enough money to purchase
small farm of his own. In time
the old love was forgotten and he
married again. Holden prospered
and after few years owned one oc
the best farms in the country. Sew
eral children were born, and it was
not long until his first marriage
seemed like a dream. About four
years ago Mrs. Holden No. died
leaving FIVE children.
About year after the death of
his wife Mr.. Holden sold a portion
of his farm to man named Jones
from Georgia. Mr.. Jones built a
house and moved his family to Ala
bama. Soon the two farmers be-
came good friends, but MIR. Holden
had never been to the house of his
neighbor, and had never seen his
wife.
Less than year ago Mr.. Jones
died. His neighbor, Mr.. Holden,
of course attended the funeral, and
caused no little excitement by going
off in dead faint when introduced
to the weeping widow of the dead
man. That was not the time or
place for explanations, and the next
day after the funeral Mr.. Holden
called on his former wife and this
time the recognition was mutual.
Mrs. Jones' period of mourning
will expire in few days, and then
she will be quietly married again to
the husband Of her youth. She has
three children living and Mr.. Hol- |
den has five. Only few of their
most intimate friends know the Sc
cret of their former marriage.
Mr.. William Mcguire, of Phila- |