The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-12-18
WALTERS WIFE.

mo, am not complaining against the
= G0vernment because l am held here in
prTsop.:anf you know, old boy, that am
neither ehicken-heaTted nor a coward but
= my::soul lVeth and l hope for mercy
:wheh Idie, l would let my right arm be
tut 6ff %at the shoulder and then he ready
ito: retIEn~to this Internal prison in
Charleston, and to die here with my CON-
Tades, IF need be, If l could just see one
- person: and talk with her for ten minutes"
i he seene was in the lailyard a. Charles
. tNn, where, in the summer of 1864, 600
Union ;ofhcers were placed under fire OF
our own guns, then bombarding the
doomed city from Morris Island.
The speaker was Captain Walters
That. was not his true name, but it will
answering purpose. He as captain Of
cavalry from Ohio and had been captain
st CaInpbells Station. East Tennessee,
some eight month before.
'"Why are you so despondent?" / asked.
o; cit is berause of late she has been CON-
3 ing to me in my dreams"
"Who IS she?" l asked after painful
pause.
My wife" he said with a groan.
g WHY. l did not know you were married,
. captain.
: : l took his hand and in vague sort of
way, which l meant to be cOnSoIing, told
: him that much of ones troubles were ini-
aglnary and that IL was better to look upon
the bright;side of things. | am aware now
that this advice must have had In il a ring
-: of mockery, for it is difficult to imagine a
situation with less of tue bright side than
ours. But there was something beside the
prison life that was breaking down the
captain, and curiosity and interest induced
me to ask him what il was.
If not the exact language, the following
is. l am very sure, the substance of what
Captain Ws9ters said:
"IASS&l inc out of ten of the single young
Al Vnaa entered the army in 1861, l was
GkE love. have no use for the man wao
has not been desperately in love before his
twenty fifth birthday.
"The girl TO whom l was attached was
the daughter OF Delghbor. had known
her 81 nee she was an infant and ! boy in
kniekerboekers and l cannot recall a time
when | did not love her, and she was
worthy of. it from first TO last, though
here was a period when l did not think
SO, and it is the injustice done her then
q thatis wearing out my life, and not the
eufferings of this prison.
I'VE were married last August, just
three months before was captured, and
while was home On wounded furlough.
j.: For one month l was the happiest man in
1.-THE world, and that happiness should have
continued had / been worthy of her love.
False to her? No. sir; l was not capable
= Of that. mean though was, but was not
incapable of believing that she might be
false to me.
"Erom the day Of our marriage l had
: been receiving anonymous letters charging
my wife with love for another man. L
Burned the letters, nor ever mentioned the
matter. TO her. But / noticed there were
tunes when she persisted in going over the
Ohio .RiYer to Newport alone to see sick
friend. she always told me. My anony-
nous correspondent. it would seem, kept
track OF her. aud one day a letter came
saying that if l would follow my wife
the. next day she crossed over the river 10
Kentucky would have the proof OF her
infdelIly.
THE devil moved me to follow this ad-
vice. i disguised myself aud followed her
carriage on horseback. Now and then L
caught glimlse of the pure, oeautlful
face, and it filled me with such sense of
my, own meanness that more than once l
wheeled my horse to 60 back, but would
2 be changed from this nobler purpose by
q memory OF the letters.
81 keptin sight Of my wife till the car
Tiage stopped before secluded cottage out
on the wooded slopes above the Licking
River. In few minutes she came out &C
cOmpanied by tall, handsome man. who
carried his arm In sling, but whose bear
ing bespoke him a soldier, and whose
attentions to my wife indicated lover.
They entered the carriage and drove back
into the hills.
My first impulse was to gallop after
them and shoot them both, but / Gained
myself, and after hitching my horse l
found a place where l lay concealed till
their return.
'The carriage stopped in the same place,
but this time my wife did not get out.
could see her, however, lifting up her
face to meet the lips of her companion.
Then ne returned to the Ohio side and l
followed With such storm raging in my
heart as / cannot describe. l shudder to
think Of 1t now.
81 aalloped back, changed my dress and
at once sought out my wife. pushed
her back when she rushed forward to kiss
me. and with coarse oaths told her of my
discovery and charged her with infdeity.
She tried TO explain, but l refused TO
listen. leave you to this lover L
shouted, and you Will never see me
again
u dashed from the room just as she fell
1aintlng TO the floor, and that was the last
sa" OF. my wife. / suspected that her
companion vas wounded Confederate
soidier, who was hiding within our lines
10 recruit his health and conduct his
amours. Without telling my own grief /
explained my suspicious that night to the
proyost marshal, and then ] started South
To Teloln my regiment and with an intense
desire 10 my heart TO be killed in the hrst
light Two days before my capture
received letter from the provost marshal
saying that he had arrested the man. that
he ,was.a Confederate officer who had been
wounded at Cynthiana, and that he was
my wife's. uncle. her mothers youngest
brother, who. being a Kentuckiau, had
taken UP arms for the otner side
That is my story. That is why / would
. be willing to die If / could first see my
wife for ten minutes aud fall at her feet
and ask her forgiveness"
Ten months after this, when peace had
come and the battle-flsgs were fnrled,
learned that Captain (now major Walters
wished to see me at the Lincoln Hospital.
/ Knew that be had escaped. rejoined bis
:" command aud had been wounded in North
. Carolina.
| sought my old prison companion out.
Pv his cot found a beautiful woman sit