The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1899-08-16
HAD SEVEN HUSBANDS.
All Met Violent Deaths.

When Marie Rel CoStliiol OF San
Juan, Cal, stands before the marriage
altar grim death is always a guest, and
as the fateful words are spoken which
bind her to her spouse the hand Of fate
is already stretched forth to welcome q
new guest to ValhalIa's walls. Seven
times she has been made a widow by
the violent death of her husband.
When this woman was 10 years old
she fell in love with young ranchman
and stockman, Jose C'rssela- They were
happy for nearly two years, and then
one day her husband fell from a wagon.
He was killed instantly and never
spoke again.
After remaining "A widow for one
year, in 1SSs she was wooed and won BY
ManvilIe Harris, the son Of a store
keeper Of that name. For eight months
nothing occurred 10 mar their happi- |
ness, and then one day her husband |
had a bad fall, breaking his leg. In
stead of the break healing and the bone
knitting as it should, blood-poisOning
set in, and in few weeks she was a
widow for the second time.
For two years she remained widow,
but her youth and beauty proved such
strong magnet and the importuna-
tions Of her suitOrs 50 persistent, that
she in 1856 married Felipe Helmuth,
miner. This time her eOnjugal happi-
ness was of short duration, for within
five weeks after the marriage there was
cave-in at the mine where Helmuth
worked, and his crushed and almost
unrecognizable body was recovered a
few days later.
To be thrice widowed in four years
alarmed the beautiful widow, and she
determined not to tempt the fates again
by marrying, but five years later, in
1891, William Storey, young actor,
who had known her when they were
children, succeeded in persuading her
TO take the fourth venture upon the
matrimonial sea.
They took a ranch near San Juan and
were happy for a few short months
One evening while out walking by him
self Storey entered what is known As
the speaking Canyon" Perhaps the
happy bridegroom in ecstasy whispered
his brides name while. alone and sur
rounded by the sombre walls stretching
far above him. Perhaps he was fright
ened by the thunderOus reply that was
shouted back at him. In this weird
canyon one spoken word would make
him the eentre Of an eddying whirl-
pool of monosyllables that would flut-
ter about him like birds Of the night Of
evil omen, while a spoken sentence in
an ordinary tone would engulf him in
a whirlpool Of rushing noisy echoes.
Perhaps that was why he lost his reason
and shot himself.
At any rate his dead body was found
in speaking Canyon" with bullet
hole in the temple and pistol in the
clenched hand.
Husband No. ) was an Englishman
named George Prouter, an heir to Eng
Iish estates, and an ardent, determined,
earnest lover. He laughed at the fears
of the terror-stricken widow, declared
that she was morbid, and finally mar
ried her against her protest, telling her
that he would take her across the ocean
aud break the spell of misfortune that
seemed 10 surround her.
He had planned their future as one
round of social pleasure and success in
England, but before he could take her
away from her Surroundings he aeei-
dentally shot himself while hunting q
few weeks after their marriage and was
dead before his friends could carry him
home.
For two years she again dOnned wild
ow's weeds, and, although in less thar
a year after PrOuter's death an old suit
,, or made his second proposal for he
hand, she held out until in 1894 she ii
nalIy gave up, and in sullen disregard
for the consequences she married Bean
Campbell. Two months later she wa
totally unmoved when she learned o
the catastrophe that made her widow
for the sixth time. Her husband wa
in a mine elevator when the machiner.
broke, and he went crashing to the bot
> tom of the shaft to be crushed to jell.
at the end of his fall.
The following year the seventh hus
band, Rey Costello, young Mexican
undeterred by the fate of the previou
SIX, with passionate fiery fervor, vowe'
that ne would break the fatal charm
, that surrounded her life and in spite o
her warnings succeeded in induein
c Marie Prieto Cassella Harris Helmutl
3 Storey Prouter Campbell to take th
. seventh journey to the altar, and i
Just twenty-eight days after the wee
II ding he was caught in a treaeherou
Il ouicksand at Amador county, Califol
e MIA, and was suffocated in the yieldinl
: sinking deathtrap before help eoui
/ reach him. Since that time she hs
= sworn off and has resolutely refused a
: offers of marriage. ''If were as beal
d tiful as Cleopatra," she says, "and wei
> the only marriageable woman in Cal
i fornia, would denOunee the man as
'e fool and idiot who tried to marry II
again. No, shall never send anoth'
p man TO an untimely grave and vi
lent death. Before that happens wi
20 take the veil and retire forever frol
VI the world"
10 urLLL;u uoo5ooba