The evening times., 1898-08-27
KEPT HIS SECRET TILL DEATH.
A Man Was Twice Married without
the knoMledue nf E,rienI.

1
| New York. Aug. 27.-The death of Dr.
John H. Pickett. at his home at Eliza beth,
N. j., has brought to light the fact that
this well-known physician was twice
| married. and that he left five children.
four sons and one daughter. One of his
| wives is still living. and while her identi-
| ty was unknown attended his funeral
though his friends were not aware of
the fact that ne had ever been married
Dr. Pickett was man of prominence
| in Elizabeth. He was Republican can
didate for mayor in 1854 He was
brigade surgeon in the Army of the po-
| tomac. and went to Elizabeth from Buf-
falo twenty years ago. He became pop
ular and prominent in Grand Army cir
| cles. was always chosen delegate to the
rational encampments and was past COM
| mander and founder of Judson Kilp:t-
rick Post. of Elizabeth. He was also d.
vision surgeon for the New Jersey Cen
trai Railroad. He died on August 9. AZ
the age of seventy. He never told his
friends in Elizabeth that he had ever
been married and that he had a family
ana one wife living. Even his friend to
whom he had assigned the task of writ
ing his biography and who delivered !: N
address at his funeral was ignorant of
these facts.
The doctors second wife was a widow
named Mrs. Amanda Shpman nee I.ittl.
who now lives near Philadelphia To her
Or. Pickett was married in Jersey CITY
on Columbus Day." 1s9. After brief
honeymoon the bride returned to Jersey
City. where she took w her residence
in house she owned there while the
doctor returned 10 Elizabeth and occu-
pied his home at the foot of East Jersey
Street
For a couple of years the doctor made
frequent visits to his wife's home in Jer-
sey City. difficulty between the two
hnally ended in a separation. Dr. Pick
EFT. few days before he died. assured a
friend that he had no relatives living, and
this announcement was made at the fu-
neral. In his will he bequeathed his per-
sonal effects to comparative strangers
Although his second wife attended his
funeral. attired in deep mourning her
identity was unknown to the clergyman,
the Rev. DR.. Buckle, OF any one else and
therefore. no allusion was made to her or
her grief The house which DR.. Pickett
owned and occupied in Elizabeth was sold
by him shortly before his death TO Capt.
r. De Groot, friend, the consideration
being only 81.
DIR. Pickett. after his discharge from the
army, made his residence in Buffalo, N.
Y, but owing TO domestic troubles sud-
denly left his wife and children and went
TO Elizabeth. After that he held no COM
muricaton with his wife. although he
wrote one letter to his son Harry, now a
prominent business man in Buffalo. In n
letter received in Elizabeth yesterday
from that son he says:
thank you for the paper containing notice of
the death of my father. DR.. John II. Pickett. It
contains one mistake 1t says there no known
relatives living. Charles, Alice and myself live
in Buffalo. Edward in Nashville, Tenn, and John
in Brooklyn. We are all children of his He had
trouble with my mother, and since then has not
communicated, with the exception of one letter,
which he had sent me. He had been very distant.
always loved him. and am sorry l did not know
he was sick. l wanted to see him before he died
Yours very truly, HARRY S. PICKETT,
No. 35 Exchange Place, Buffalo, N. 7.
Many of DR.. Picket;s friends in Eliza
beth were saying yesterday that they al
ways suspected there was some mystery
in his life, but with singular unanimity
they kept their suspicious to themselves.