Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-03-01
Wanted Belen.

cluster of houses and cabins dignified
by the name of a town, but the place
was growing and had some good lum-
Der interests, and was looked upon as
n prosperous pioneer settlement. The
! tavern was called the Orient by that
| peculiar idiOsyncraSy of nomenclature
which distinguishes the rising West
1t was here that the night stage-coach
| stopped on its way from Lapeer. where
| 1t had met the train from the East, and
| left one passenger, a woman neatly
and hecoHningly dressed, who gave evil
| dence of wealth and refinement. Some
! thing in her air bespoke Boston cult
ure; perhaps it was an underlined
touch of severity that was express
both in her dress, and in her personal
repression. or in her absolute control
of all emotion, as she entered the hotel
alone, stranger, coming on a most
unpleasant errand, the outcome of
which was to affect her whole future
| life
| Her satchel was taken by a gTinning
| factOtum of the house, who showed her
| into the parlOr while he went to secure
room for her.
| The parlor of the hotel was typical
of the prosperity of the town. 1t had
a haircloth suit and a tail stove that
was nearly all nickle There were sew
eral lace-shr0uded windows. and at
| one of these a girl was sitting. She
stared at the woman entering the room
and advanced to meet her.
| The girl was still in her teens, but
| looked as if some great sorrow had
| overtal1en her. Her eyes were red
| with weeping. Her pretty pink cheeks
| looked shriveled and wan in the morn
| ing light. Her blonde hair was care
! lesSly arranged. She did not offer any
| form of recognition to the stranger
but asked in an emotional voice.
| you have come to save him?"
II am his wife" said the new conner
in cold, incisive tones; who are you"
'I-I-thought l was his Wife-we
We're so happy, and he never told NE
of any other. Oh l cannot believe. He
was too good, too kind to deceive me-
| There must be some dreadful mistake"
THE court will decide that" said
| the other woman, coldly.
! But You will save him-you have
money, and can buy off those people.
| You will not let him be kept in jail
when he loved me so much. and we
were so happy"
peace, girl! He never loved you;
and you-how dare you talk to me of
loving the man who is my husband.
I dare say he was taken with your
baby face, but that he should have
gone through any mock ceremony Of
marriage I cannot believe. If he did,
it is for that he will go to prison, and
you are the cause of it,
'"That 1 am not, cruel woman. I tell
you he loved me and I loved him-well
enough to go away and never look up
on his dear face again if you will save
him from the punishment you have
brought upon him. Is not that proof
that l love him?''
There was no emotion visible ON the
face of the woman appealed to, except
a more determined tension of the mus
cles. Her eyes held no tears nor was
there any tremor in her voice. She
turned upon the girl
Have you no shame, that you open
ly avow your love to a man to whom
you have no claim? How will you an
swer to the court for the position you
have taken? Now at least you are not
deceived, since your victim is behind
the bars of the county JAIL
'Wbo placed him there? Not [, proud
woman, but you-yOu yourself who
h T
lob, if I could die to save you from
this, my darling, I would be glad,
thankful for the privilege"
"Oh!' said the other, in a repressed
voice, and raising a clenched hand.
small. but like a hand of iron, as if
she would strike the other woman to
the earth. But she did not strike.
That was below her dignity, to touch
such creature as. this. And the girl.
who lad dreamed every hour Of her
life away beneath her fathers roof,
stood facing her, with little care
whether the blow fell or not. In her
heart We're only love and conscious
innocence at that moment. That she
had been cruelty deceived did not
seem to matter, in view of the great
calamity, the loss of her love.
There was a consultation with law
yer5 in which the real wife gave her
credentials, and produced her certifi-
cate Of honorable marriage with the
man accused of bigamy, deciding the
criminality of the prisoner before judge
or jury should have the case.
The repudiated wife, the girl with
with the pink cheeks and blonde hair.
who had only the characteristic Of
great loving, bethought her of a way
to save the man who was more TO her
than home or heaven at that moment.
She knelt at the tall stove and open
ed it's shining door. There was a tenn
porary furnace within, and into it
she dropped folded paper.
"There no deed of mine shall send
him to a prison cell. I viii bear the
blame. the shame, of it all"
There was a courthouse in White
side. but in lieu of it there was bar
racks of a place where justice was
administered by the most informal
methods. The judge was seated in
chair that tipped back comfortably
against the wall The two lawyers.
who were more accustomed to horse
thieves than more polite clients. were
making a pretense of being very busy.
They had each an itching palm for
money, and they intended to be as leni
ont DC DoSSihIa with the prisoner who