Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-05
SPOILED A TALE OF PATHOS
Supposed Suicide of q Pensioner for His
Wife's Sake.
His Story of How He vaialy Struggled
Told In His Lettcrs-DiscOvered
Afterward in Michigan.

| Divorces procured, lost friends reunited
love matches made and romances and trag-
| eGies furnished upon short notice"
| Such an advertisement smacks of the
| black art, yet the pension Office is prepared
| to carry out literally the terms of the no.
tice in the smallest detail, and is today do
| ing it gratis, bringing down upon its head
| the thanks and wrath of the indignant
| participants.
Applications for pensions bring 20 ligh,
many strange things. This is made posi-
BILE by the ramificatons which each investi-
CATION into the merits of case must take.
| and some of the denouements are thrilling
| The frailty of man and the cupidity OF
| woman is the lesson. most often repeated
The following would have been a pathetic
case If the pension Office had not torn away
the mask. Some time ago the application
| OF widow was received for pension. Her
| claim was investigated and she was re-
| qGired to furnish the department evidences
| OF her soldier husbands death While she
| had no positive evidence of the death of
| her husband. she had pretty strong cor
| decorative evidence, which she transmitted
| in the following letter:
| MY Dear Wife: Another year beginning
| ana we are worse off than last year. 1 try
| TO Keep up heart and hope on, but am be-
CIR ming, like you, to hate the very sound
| of the word hope, and each Individual let
| ter in it.
| i am what both of us are for that mat
| ter, getting heart-sick against this never
| CT cling battle of fate, and I came very near
| erdinS it all today. 1 am living here on the
| bounty Of a friend. and even then am unable
| to send you enough to buy your coal. 1 was
doing all in my power all day to make
| some money, but without success and late
| this afternoon, while my way to my
| lodging place, 1 stood on the Sth street
| bridge, and looking down in the rapid cur
| rent Of the Allegheny, I thought how easy
| to end all. l know you love me and will
| he true to me while l live. even though in
| being so you suffer all the pangs of pow
| erty. But you are young, and were 1 out
| of the way would have hosts of friends
| who would not see you suffer, but would
| help you to some good position. Even.if
| now was only dead there would be no ques-
| ton OF discharging you from your position
| but instead advancement to higher SAL
| airy. On the other hand, try as / may.
| every effort I make only serves to make
my failure more pronounced What have
| l to hold out to you as a reward for such
| corstancy as you give? Nothing bit pow
j erty that becomes every year worse and
I harder to bear. And then, too, your rela-
| tives hold aloof from you on my account
l am certain my death would end all that,
| ard while You would, no doubt, grieve for
| me, your youth and natural buoyancy of
| spirits would dull the edge of that grief
| and you would see that my last act was
| the best of my life. All this I thought
| over. and much more that / cannot write
| as / stood there in the cold with the wind
whistling through my thin clothing. And
1 turned to carry out my resolution. and
| net face to face man to whom l had
| tired to sell something during the day.
He rememi cred me and stopped to talk
| wanting to know why in the name of sin |
had come out without an overcoat. 1 told
| him the question was SO very easy to an
| swer that almost any ten-year-old school
boy could answer it without a slate. You
| will say ii was pity, but l claim 1t was
| simply fate that brought him there at that
| moment and prompted him to act as he did.
| Something in my manner told more than
| words probably, for he insisted on my ac-
companying him, and introduced me to
| some friends, to whom ! made some sales
| that will enable me to forward today s..
| which you will receive by day after to-
| morrow's mail. I realized al once that my
time had not come, and fer the time at
| least / must continue to struggle on against
| fate and the elements combined. But
know now that sooner or later the end
| must come in this way, and I write this
not to send you now but to be mailed to
you by strangers after my death. 1t will
| come during the present year. Do you
| know what the day is anniversary of? For
| some strange reason the remembrance has
! come to me all day long. This is the tenth
| year. but fate will not intcrpose next time. -
This letter was written January ,. The
| following postscript was added:
l ne Gay mas come FOR Ten Jays 1 nave
| struggled and tried to conquer fate. but
| even the elements are against me. l got
one letter last Friday week. dated May
| 30. and mailed one to you the same day.
| but have hes.rd nothing since. Mr.. Hum
promised to he here Thursday and take me
| with him, and it is Sunday and 1 have
| neither seen nor heard from him. l eX-
| pected to get you some money, but have
| blaming me for it. 1t is foolish for ME to
postpone the inevitable. l leave here to-
| morrow if fate does not again intervene.
| Mondays setting sun will see you free and
| widow. COD bless you. my darling. and
keep you. l cannot save you any other
| way from life of poverty
Then follows the name of the man, with
| another postscript, which reads:
"If there4s a God may he forgive me for
| what I am about to do. 1 have struggled
| so hard and am so tired, so tired. I think
sometimes 1 am crazy. l have loved you
so dearly, and that is why must not drag
| you down, down. down. 1t is for your sake
L do this and to correct an error made
when | was born. Forgive and forget me.
| My children have already done the last
WORTHLESS HUSBAND"
The writer was evidently partial to post
scripts, for he had one more, in which he
| says:
washed the shadows on the river, toss
| it into the nearest hole and cover it over
| Give no more notice or care than you would
| the bay, should the waters of the river
kindly and mercifully carry my body so
| far
This letter was received by the wife Of
| the writer, who was a pensioner. and re-
| tanned for over year, and as nothing fur
Their heard from the soldier, and as
| she believed he had committed suicide she
| filed application for a pension as his
| widow. While this application was pending
| the soldier wrote from a town in Michigan,
| requesting duplicate of his pension certifi-
cate, which. he claimed, he had lost and
! was advised by the department that the
| certificate was in the bureau drawer at his
| wife's house and to go and get it
| WANTED $4,000.