The Portland daily press., 1892-02-29

CRIME OF 1npfuQence TO WnlCn you may
listen. 1t is not for me to advise min
lister of your intelligence that your
position is utterly untenable, would be
Dangerous to Society,
and would not be respected by any court
of the land. You further alleged in JUS
tifcation of your action that, if you had
not performed the ceremony, someone
else would have done it. This is COM
mon defense of evil doing, unworthy Of
priest and man. You might as well
justify your murder of man by chloro-
form on the ground that otherwise
some one else would murder him with a
dagger. A week ago my boy was under
my protection, the most helpless and
least responsible member of my family,
erratic, but controllable through his
strong affections, the objectof constant
watchfulness to his parents, brothers
and sisters as source of
Constant Anxiety But Not Despair
because he was of good abilities, as read
lily Influenced to right as to wrong, and
because the patience of love can never
know WEAKNESS. Today, through your
agency, this boy in years, in experience,
in Judgment and practically in capacity
leaves my home and care, burdened with
the full responsibilities of q man and
with the welfare of a woman in his keep
ing. / am powerless. I cannot question
the legality of the marriage. shall, at
a distance and at every disadvantage, en-
deavor to guide my son. But, as a
father living under the divine institution
Of the family, as citizen living under
the divine order of society, l protest
against your act. AS a servant of God,
to whose ministry you are ordained,
call God to witness between you and me.
that Of whatever evils resulting from
This Depiorab1e Marriage
my son may be the author OF the victim,
the guilt be on your head.
"'JAMEs G.. BLAINE
sWhen wrote this letter I believed
Miss Nevins had no other responsibility
in the marriage than in consentlng to my
sons appeal and was blameworthy for
this alone. Since then, / am prepared
to say the marriage was arranged by her
far more than by my son, that she did
everything to promote it, suggested every
arrangement and anticipated and pro-
vided for every emergency. In fact, but
for her personal, active and untiring
taken place. In this, she showed a
knowledge and forethought not to be ex
pected in woman of 81 years."
The statement then gives extracts from
letters written by Miss Nevins to young
Blaine few days after the couple first
met. These include the following:
'Don't ask any questions that may
lead persons to suspect anything. Re-
member we are in the mouths Of every
man, woman and child in Augusta
''Look into the [marriage] laws only,
tomorrow, and perhaps one question at
the bank" csWhere," says Mr.. Blaine,
she obtained
Money for the Marriage Journey
on my account by inducing the cashier to
advance him funds on his memorandum
thing he never learned to do before he
met Miss Nevins.")
''Oh, do be careful. L feel now all
sorts of dreadful things are said of us
You do not know how vile the world is.
Do look up the laws and let the rest
keep"
When the couple reached New York,
Mr.. Blaine asserts that Miss Nevins took
charge of everything and directed all
proceedings to the last minute. Mr..
Blaine states that when his son Walker
went to New York to see whether the
marriage might not be invalidated by
reason of the groom's youth, he was told
it was too late because the bride had
taken passage for Boston with the groom
on the night steamer on Long Island
sound, Mr.. Blaine then proceeds to
show the falsity of the
Assertion That Mrs. Blaine
broke up the marriage relations of her
son and his wife. She did not see her
daughter-in-law until eight months after
the marriage when she was in New York.
After Mr.. and Mrs. Blaine returned from
Europe. they found their son had spent
his entire allowance and was deeply in
debt. 1t was arranged that young
Blaine and his wife should 60 to Au-
| gusta and have the future determined at
| family council. 1t was there proposed
| that the young couple should live
in Mr.. Blaine's old home at Augusta,
| Nh. Blaine to furnish fuel, light, a man
servant, a horse and carriage and $2500 a
year until young Blaine could earn that
sum. ouuS DldlIlo WIlt ICluStu "
stay in Augusta, and then young Blaine
| disclosed the fact that his marriage was
an unhappy one and he had become
estranged from his wife. During young
Mrs. Blaine's stay of two weeks in Au-
gusta, says Mr.. Blaine, it became patent,
owing to the inharmony of the young
couple, that a separation was the least
| disaster to be dreaded. Young Blaine
accompanied his father to Ellsworth,
where Mr.. Blaine was to make cam
| paign speech. In a few days young
Blaine returned home to find his wife
had left for New York few hours be-
| fore,
Mrs. Blaine, ST., Earnestly but in Vain,
urged her daughter-in-law to remain.
She did not then dream that her son
would not follow his wife or that a final
separation would come so soon. She Of
fered to take charge of the child, but
young Mrs. Blaine declined the offer.
She left a sharp note for her husband.
The latter, after reading it, said he would
not follow her. In A days, young Mrs.
Blaine returned to Augusta with heI
| mother and child. Mrs. Blaine rose