The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-02-11
THE WIDOW JONES' PENSION.

THE WIDOW JONES PENSION.
It's Investigation Reveals One of the
Many Wartime Romances.
Some twenty years ago the pension
case of a widow Jones was discovered
to. have been backed up by a fraudu-
lent certificate of marriage, and the
grand jury of the district finding a
true bill, the widow left her place in
the treasury and the city. The case
fully appears in the following story:
During the early part of the late war
there was located on the roadside,
few miles from one of the pretty towns
of West Virginia, prosperous black
smith, whose family, a wife and seve-
raj children, included several quite
handsome girls, just entering woman
hood. 1t was not long before the Fed
eral troops arrived in the neighbor-
hood, and then some troops were
raised in that section. For the latter
there were a few officers taken from
the northern regiments, and one OF
them, while his regiment was en-
camped near the blacksmith's, en-
gagged board with the family. This Of
ficer was a widower with one child he
had left in the care of his mother, and
although the youngest of the girls was
little more than fourteen years old
they were soon strongly attached to
each other. The family, however,
looking on it as mere pastime on
their part, which would soon be ended
by the young officer going to the front,
interposed no objection to the child ac-
companying him in walks and on short
carriage rides in the vicinity.
One pleasant afternoon about the
latter part Of May, 1861, they set out
for longer drive than the family ex-
pected, and when night came there
were conjectures tina. they may have
missed their way, or perhaps have
fallen into some trap and been cap
tured by the enemy, for at that time
there was no telling who were friends
or who were foes in that section. The
following day drew it's slow length
along, during which time inquiries and
search were made for the truants, and
towards evening they appeared in
sight, to the joy of the family. AS
soon as they alighted the family re-
ceived a surprise, when the sister was
introduced as Mrs. Jones, for that was
the name of the young lieutenant, and
they related how they had driven over
into Maryland and were married by a
Methodist minister, and produced a
certificate to that effect. This was
satisfactory to the family, though the
mother and father would have been
better satisfied had one Of the elder
girls been his choice.
The situation was accepted by all
concerned as one of the fortunes OF
war, and the young bride was in her
old home Mrs Lieutenant Jones, a
boarder, and for about month the
husband continued to board at the
house, when, the regiment being Or
dered away, his short married life in
Virginia came to an end. In this brief
period he had sent to his relatives, liv-
ing in New Jersey not far from New
York city, for his daughter by his first
wife--a girl of six or seven years-and
she had been brought on by fellow
officer and received in the charge OF
the child Wife. When the regiment
was ordered away both wife and child
were in tears, little dreaming that they
would never see him again, and they
were in hopes that he would soon re-
turn crowned with laurels and promo
ton.
In the course of few days, howev-
err, news came that the regiment ha6
participated in a battle not far away
and, although the Union arms were
victorious, his name appeared as one
of the wounded This was supple
mented by the reception Of a letter
from an officer, in which he confirmed
the intelligence she had received spoke
of his slim chance of recovery from g
sabre wound in the breast, and of the
husband giving directions as to his
daughter confiding her to his wife's
care Such was the condition of thai
section at the time that It was deemed
unsafe for her to attempt to reach
him, and few days later she received
a letter from an officer of the regiment
describing his death at farmhouse
and burial near the battlefield.
The war continued and the family
home was sometimes surrounded BY
Union troops and at others by the Con.
federates, and often was In danger be-
tween the lines of the contendine
forces. OF such surroundings the fam
lily soon tired and moved into town
The two other girls followed the exam
pie of the younger, and the fortunes o.
war brought each a husband, one IL
the person of Mississippi soldier ant
the other New York soldier, wearing
the chevrons of a sergeant, and, sin
gular as it may seem. the blacksmith
sons-in-law We're all named Jones.
In the little town the young widow
of the lieutenant, with the stepdaugh
ter dependent on her, lived on amic
the excitement of the times, eking on
an existence by her needle. Late il
the fall of 1865 a member of congress
who had served in the West Virgini;
regiment with Lieutenant Jones
stepped off train for few minute
and it went on without him. Recallin;
the days of 81 and having some hour
to wait, he visited some of the scene
of his military life, and in the course o
his walk by inquiry found the widow
of his old companion in the army. Sh
reluctantly told of her circumstances
which were apparent to the observer