The evening world., 1893-11-22
CAPT. WALTERS WIFE.
Prison H01dships intensified by IL Sau-
feringS of Mind.

It would seem. kept track Of her, and
one day a letter came saying hat II |
would follow my wife the next day she
crossed over the river to Kentucky /
would have proof of her infdclity.
The devil move me to follow this
advice. | disguised myself and followed
her carriage on horseback. Now and
then | caught a glimpse Of the pure,
beautiful face. and 1t filled me with such
a sense of my own nj that more
than once l wheeled my horse to go
back. but would be changed from this
noblcr purpose by the m Of the
letters.
II kept sight of my wife til the car
rage stopped before n secluded cot
tase out on the wooded slopes above the
Licking River. In "A few minutes she
came out accompanied by a tall, hand
some young man. who carried his arm
in a sling, but whose bearing bespoke
him n soldier. and whose attentions to
my wife indicated a lover. They en-
tered 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 IA place where ! lay concealed till
their return.
THE carriage stopped in the same
place, but his time my wife did not
get out. l could see her, however,
lifting up her face to meet the lips of
her companion. Then he returned to
the Ohio side. and | followed with such
a storm raging in my heart as I cannot
describe. I shudder to think of 1t now.
II galloped back. changed my dress
and at once sought out my wife. l
pushed her back when she rushed for
ward to kiss me. and with coarse oaths
I told he- of my discovery and charged
her with infdelity. She tried to explain,
but I refused to listen. I will leave you
to this lover l shouted. and you will
nver see me again
II dashed from the room just as she
fell fainting to the floor, and that was
the last l saw of my wife. 1 suspected
that her companion was a our Con-
federate soldier, who was hiding with
in our lines to recruit his health and to
conduct his amours. Without telling my
own grief l explained my suspicious
that night to the provost marshal, and
then l started south to rejoin my regi-
ment and with an intense desire In my
heart to be killed in the first fight. Two
days before my capture 1 received a
letter from the provost marshal saying
that he had arrested the man, that he
was a Confederate officer who had been
wounded at Cythiana, and that he was
my wife's uncle, her mothers youngest
brother, who, being a Kentuckian, had
taken up arms for the other side.
THAT is my story. That is why l
would be willing to die II I could first
see my wife for ten minutes and fall at
her feet and ask her forgiveness"
Ten months after this. when peace
had come and the battle flags were
furled, I learned that Captain NOW
Major Walters wished to see me at the
Lincoln Hospital. l knew that he had
escaped, rejoined his command and had
been rounded in North Carolina.
l sought my old prison companion out.
BY his cot l found a beautiful woman
sitting. My wife" he said by way of
Introduction. She gave me her little
his 1 felt a throb OF delight, for ! knew
that explanations had been made and
that love had p%ardoned doubt.-Buffalo
News.