Mexico weekly ledger., 1896-01-02
From the 81. Louis Republic

onels four beautiful daughters, all
young ladies', by a former marriage.
Since Colonel Dryden fell a complete
captive to the snare of Cupid he has
been under the necessity of maintain
ing two establishments, located as
stated.
Colonel Dryden was married to Miss
Alma Henning, of Louisville, KY,
September %, last, by Rev. Father
Power, of the Church of Immaculate
Conception. The news that the we'll
known lawyer had abandoned the
ways of a widower will be a pleasant
surprise to his many friends through
out the State.
Few mel are better known than
Colonel Dryden. AS a criminal law
yer he stands at the head of the Mis-
souri, bar. His able defense in the cele-
brated Hearne case, completed at
Bowling Green a few days ago, and
his service with Governor johnson in
the Duestrow case have given him
a national reputation as a pleader.
| His matchless eloquence before the
! tribunal and his expert manner in
| handling witnesses will only add to
his qualities as a husband, and Mrs.
Dryden is subject to the c~ongratula-
| tons of her husbands many friends.
But why was the marriage kept Sc
cret so long? All because of a tender
| spot in the heart of Colonel Dryden.
He has four daughters whom he
idolizes. The Colonel's marriage was
rather sudden, and he determined TO
keep il secret for fear that his daugh-
ters would not receive it in the same
| spirit in which it was sent, and he
has succeeded in his effort until this
time. The Misses Dryden are beauti-
full girls, just budding into woman
hood, and their father in the kindness
| of his heart felt that we're he to tell
them that they had n new mother
they would feel hurt, and possibly
raise objections to his marriage, and
| so he kept it a secret, locked secure
~ in his breast, and they have been
none the wiser.
Possibly had Colonel Dryden never
gone to Bowling Green to take part in
the Hearne case, the fact of his mar
| rage would not be out now. But it is
| one of the misfortunes of greatness to
be well known. Colonel Dryden's
picture, published in the newspapers
at the time he was there, caused the
marriage to leak out in a very unex-
pected manner. The publication of
the picture not only caused the mar
rage to be revealed, but also caused a
little blonde haired widow, Mrs. Wood
by name, to lose her position at the
cloak counter in Nugent's big store.
One of the. papers with a cut of
Colonel Dryden fell into Mrs. Woods
hand, and she looked on the face of
the Colonel and admired it extremely.
She thought he was just the kind of a
man she was looking for and she went
further and read one of his eloquent
speeches, and when she finished the
Colonel's likeness had been trans
ferred to her heart. She determined
to meet the colonel, and SO she sat
down and penned him a nice note,
saying that she admired eloquent,
brainy men like him, and that she
| would be delighted if he would call at
| the store and ask for'sNumber Eight
| Having sent this off she waited i'm
patiently for a reply from the Colonel
but none came.
TheColonel received the letter while
atBowling Green, and after reading II
placedit nhis pocket withthe thought
that if Mr.. Nugent knew of his clerks
action she would be out of a job
When he came home a few days latel
he turned the note from "Number
Eight over 20 his wife, telling hel
that if she would take it to Nugent't
and lay the case before them some
action might be taken to head off the
letter writing characteristics of"Num'
Der Eight"
Mrs. Dryden was acquainted at the
store, SO on Monday she went down
town, and for the time being, became
a detective in order to establish the
fact that "Number Eight''at the cloak
| counter was the author of the letter
to her husband. She wrote a note,
unsigned, leaving the inference that
she was Colonel Dryden, saying to
"Number Eight" that a meeting was
wanted, and that owing to circum-
stances a secrecy would have to be
maintained.
The note was dispatched to "Num-
ha<=Eixas,t' ana-shortl-~ afterward
a reply came back from "Number
Eight" with additional signature OF
Mrs. Wood. In the note Mrs. Wood
said she would be overjoyed to meet
her admirer and told him to call at
the store and ask observation-disclosures,
or to come to 3144 Olive street,
where she lived, any evening. The
handwriting was the same as that in
the letter sent to Colonel Dryden at
Bowling Green, except that the note
was in lead pencil and the former
written in ink. Mrs. Wood closed:
"Keep it mum, strictly Q. T."
When Mrs. Dryden got the note and
made the comparison she concluded
not s'to keep it mum" by any means
She had come down town for the ptIr-
pose OF mailing "Number Eight" and
she had succeeded admirably. With
the two notes she went direct to Mr.,
Charles w. Nugent, manager Of the
firm, and told him of her husbands
receipt of the letter while at Bowling
Green, and of the fact of his action in
turning it over to her on his return
from there. She described to Mr.
Nugent the steps she had taken to gel
a copy of ssNumber Fights" hand
writing shortly before. Mr.. Nugsni
was much surprised to hear Of the &C
tions of Mrs. Wood, and he told Mrs
Dryden that possibly there was a mis-
take.
Mrs. Dryden said that If he would
bring out Mrs. Wood she would ssh
her about the authorship of the notes.
and, If she denied them, that she
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