Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-08-06
saliseellanfons &eading.
JUDGE MACKEY'S WIVES.
Two Young Women Claim the Aged Jurist
as a Husband.

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Ex-Judge Tom Mackey, of more OF
less unsavory reputation in South
Carolina, seems to be a gay Lothario
despite his weight of years. The
following New York dispatch to the
Washington Post gives an account OF
his many matrimonial ventures, the
Introductory sketch of Mackey's ca
reer in South Carolina being as in.
veracious as Mackey himself could
have made it:
NEW YORK, July 31.-Ex-Judge
Thomas Jefferson Mackey, gay in spite
of his being within one year of the
allotted span of life, has brought mis-
cry into the lives of two young women,
and both are crying for vengeance and
his punishment for alleged bigamy.
His present whereabouts are unknown.
He wus last heard from in Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania.
Ex-Judge Mackey is a native OF
Charleston, S. c., and his father was
prominent as jurist in that section.
He was born in 1929, was graduated
from a Southern college, studied law
with his father, and was admitted to
the bar in Charleston in 1851. His
eloquence and profound knowledge of
the law soon raised him to the front
rank as a jurist, and he was in 1855
appointed a supreme court judge.
About this time he was married to a
Southern woman, whose name, 1t is
said, was Rosina Scott. Her beauty
and accomplishments made her ia
vorite in society, and for many years
her domestic life was happy. Their
children were Beckford Mackey, who
was appointed United States consul to
city in Brazil, and was brought into
notoriety by killing an editor of a
newspaper in theatre, who had pub
licly insulted him; Argyle Mackey, a
physician of Washington, D. c., who
committed suicide in Baltimore about
two years ago; Thomas j., Jr., and
Crandall Mackey.
Judge Mackey, after his retirement
from the bench, continued the practice
of law in Columbia and Washington,
and frequently argued important cases
before the full bench of the United
States supreme court. He was one OF
the lawyers who defended General
Hazen in the famous trial by court
martial.
After ex-Judge Mackey was estab-
lished in Washington rumors reached
the ears of Mrs. Mackey. She had
an investigation made, and the result
was that she secured divorce on June
%, 1889, on the statutory ground. He
then came to this city and opened a
law office in Chambers street, near
Broadway. Most of the money Mack
ey had made in the law business he
lost, it is said, speculating in stocks.
He added to his income by contribu-
ting to magazines, and published sew
eral volumes on legal topics. The
former judge has several old friends
living here, and he frequently visited
their homes. On one of these visits
he met Miss Sarah Lenore Curtis, the
daughter of ex-Judge Curtis, wealthy
man, who lives at Stamford, Conn.
Miss Curtis had just been graduated
from a college in New England, and
had peculiar ideas concerning matri-
mony. She did not believe in love as
the foundation of wedlock, and held
that marriages founded upon intellect
ual sympathy were the only ones
which would result in lifelong hap
piness.
Miss Curtis met ex-Judge Mackey
several times and discussed this sub.
iect with him. He agreed with all
that she said, and after an acquain-
tance of few months, proposed mar
riage. He was then 81, at his last
birthday, and she was only 20. Her
parents reluctantly gave their consent
to the union, and the ex.udge and the
ex-judge's pretty daughter were mar
ried on May 8, 1891, at St. Paul's
Methodist Episcopal church, 3OS East
Fifty.ffth street, by the Rev. George
H. McGrew. Ex.Judge Curtis gave
his daughter $1,000 for a wedding
present. Mrs. Mackey had supposed
her husband was wealthy enough to
give her home as good as the one she
gave up, but she soon found out that
he was practically penniless. He de-
cided to 60 TO Europe on the honey
moon trip, and spent the 1000 in the
old country. When they returned
they went to housekeeping in 1868
West 10th street. The ex;judge was
for a time so devoted to his wife that
he could not tear himself away from
her long enough to attend to business,
and raise money for her support. Mrs
Mackey had little fortune of her own
and her husband borrowed money from
her regularly. He soon began to ab-
sent himself from home, and has been
away for weeks at time during the
last two years. He told his wife that
he was attending to important legaI
cases which would bring him large
fees.
Mrs. Mackey never saw any of the
money he got as fees. Her husband
did not like to live long in any one
house, and since 1891 they have lived
ar 136 West Ninety-ninth street, AZ