The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1895-01-11
MARRIAGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES
IN KENTUCKY.

Clay, who recently married an adopt.
ed child, thus tells his difficulties to
the world.
| have received letters of con-
graduation from nearly every State in
the Union where | am known" said
Gen. Clay. zone gentleman, who
wrote his letter the day was married,
sympathized with me and my intended
wife because we could not get mar.
ried. His letter was dated Quincy, Ill.
He told me to send her by Adams
Express Company to that place and
come up and claim her."
"A young lady wrote me letter
from a certain place, proposing that if
Dora did not marry inc she would
She gave me her age and said she
was considered good looking woman,
and that she would marry me and
make good wife if would take her.
| was good deal amused, and very
politely declined her Offer"
Would you care to relate the facts
regarding your divorce, General ?"
Yes. When l was schoolboy at
Yale l fell in love during one of my
vacations with Mary Jane WarheId,
daughter of DIR. Elisha Warheld, who
owned the famous farm called the
Meadows, adjoining Lexington. He
was an aristocrat. There was an un-
derstanding between us that l was a
suitor for Miss Warfleld's hand, and |
went back to Yale and stayed there
year and half before 1 came back 10
Kentucky and renewed the courtship.
She accepted me, and in due time we
were married.
"When DR.. War6eld divided his
estate | expected, of course, an equal
distribution, but l did not get one
dollar from him. Dr. Warfield and
his wife both made their wills so that
| could not get any of their estates,
thus pursuing me, even after death.
They were large slave owners, and my
abolition ideas did not suit them, and
for this reason they always opposed
me. Do you wonder that / turned
against them ?
"Well, after my wife had deserted
me and had been away for nearly FIVE
years, on the advice of my brother
Brutus | filed suit for divorce. Mrs.
Clay threatened to file counter peti.
tion, accusing me Of all sorts of i'm
moralltles, but she was persuaded to
allow me divorce on the grounds of
abandonment after the expiration of
five years.
snow they are not satisfied, though
| have divided my estate among them.
They fear will have another heir to
the estate, which will make another
division necessary. There is nothing
in the world at the bottom OF their op-
position but that
81 do not fear any further trouble,
unless they commit open murder, and
run the risk Of being hanged or killed.
They have made wild beast out of
me.
"My first marriage was unhappy.
| chose wife from the aristocracy.
This time have taken wife from
the peasanuy, and l believe she will
afford me more rea! happiness and
will not be ungrateful. No, ! do not
believe in Tolstoi's theory. l do not
believe the people from various walks
of life can be equallized. That is an
impossibility. But l do believe that
from the lower walks of life often come
some of the greatest geniuses. A
person of humble life whose parents
have good characters is far superior
to one of aristocratic lineage whose
ancestry is stepped in vice."
Does man feel any remorse
when he kills man in self defense,
Gen. Clay ?"
In the case of Turner, 1 have felt |
no remorse, and had | killed Brown
1t would have been the same way.
Brown had pistol in his hand and
he cried out for the people to make |
way, for he wanted to kill the id
aboitionist.' The people fell back,
making lane between Brown and
myself. He levelled his pistol on me
when | was ten steps away, but for
some reason he did not fire until l
was so close upon him that the pow
der burned my face and clothes.
81 advanced upon him without
trepidation thought my time had
come and determined to sell my
life as dearly as possible. His bullet,
as it was learned later, when l was
taken in the house, struck the scab-
bard of my bowie knife, but l thought
when he fired that l had received a
mortal wound, and with the despera.
tion of dying man, l cleaved him in
the head with my knife, the blade
penetrating the brain. This seemed
to daze him, and while he made some
feeble attempt to ward off my blows
by waving his pistol around in the air,
he seemed to be unable to move and