The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-12-09
%! HOW I LOVE your
WROTE A LADY TO ANOTHER
h :
WOMANS HUSBAND
The Wood Divorce Case at St. Louis Which
has Attracted 20 Muci Attention ali Over
the Country on Account of the Promin-
enc of the Parties. .it , ..,

Nothing that has happened in St.
Louis for years has caused a greater
sensation or set more tongues to wag-
ging, than the case of Wood VS.. Wood,
for divorce, and the results incident
thereto. r-.,< H.. ~..
Obediah M. Wood has been for many
years principal of the L'Ouverture
enterprising man and succeeded in
having a manual training department
added to his school, something of
which no other Afro-American school
in st. Louis boasted. Wood was
member of a number of secret orders
and managed to make himself very
popular, with the people. He also dab
bled in politics and had many friends
among the politicians. -. 3D..
, Mrs. Hortense Parker Wood is the
daughter of Mr.. Parker, the we'll
known agricultural implement
maker of Ripley, Ohio, and a sister of
the noted attorney, Hale G. Parker, of
Chicago. She is both beautiful and
accomplished. AS a pianist she has
few equals. Mrs. Void also stood high
in the ranks of the teachers while she
was engaged in the public schools.
The marriage of Obdiah M. Wood to
Miss Hortense Parker was the social
event of 1886. 1t was said to have
been real love match and all pre-
dicted a happy life for the couple who
had embarked so auspiciously on the
sea of matrimony. Alas the uncer-
tainty of human predictions. In less
than a year, the two had begun to drift
apart, or at least, Mrs Wood alleges
that Mr.. Wood had begun to drift
aside, although she continued in the
middle of the stream.
The trouble was started by Wood,
who filed a petition in the June term
Of the circuit court:
The case was continued to the o.
tober term of the court. The case was
originally before Judge Zachritz, but a
change of venue asked by Mrs. Wood,
brought it before Judge Tally. The
case attracted great deal of atten-
ton on account of the prominence of
the principals and the number of at
torneys employed in the case. Mr..
Wood had no less than five lawyers,
all prominent members of the st.
Louis bar. Mrs. Wood was repre-
sented by Judge Harvey and Camp
bell Cummings, of st. Louis and Hale
G.. Parker, Esq, of Chicago A great
deal of the testimony was very racy,
but unfit for publication in a great
moral newspaper like The Appeal.
This was especially true of the testi-
mony of the janitor, describing scenes
he alleges were enacted in the school
building. r
A great war of words was fought by
the, attorneys over the admission as
evidence of a letter which it is al
legged was written by one of the CO.
respondents named in Mrs. Woods
answer. After the lawyers had fought
over the matter for half a day
Judge Tally allowed it to be read and
admitted it as evidence. 1t was as
follows:
rs LETTER OFsLoVE. ~
My Darling: have been thinking
what dreary world this would be to
me without you. do not think I
could live if you were no more Why!
the thought of not seeing you again
would be the death of me. O! how
love you. i love you dearly. I don't
think you will ever realize how dearly
I love you. o! God how l love you.
I love you soul and body. I watched
you as long as could see you and
then threw myself on the bed and
cried until ! could cry no more.
II .8rt u sa
I thought I loved you before, but
now know it. I am yours soul and
body. O.! will the time ever come
when we will be one? .ss
read that piece of poetry you gave
me- Could I but see you now-but I'll
have to wait until you come again. Do
come soon. I will not play baby-but
be a woman as you want me to be.
0! how I long to be enar you again.
Your own,
Judge Tally decided that Wood had
not made out case and denied his Pc
tition. .8..5
Shortly after the trial Wood sent in
his resignation as principal of the
|L'Ouverture School, it is alleged at the
request of Superintendent Solden.
a delegation Of forty Afro-Amerl-
cans sat outside the railing at the
meeting of the school board. One Of
them, Mrs. Anna Smith, said to a re-
porter that the mother Of the school
district favored Principal Wood. Dr.
rector Shoers presented petition
signed by 600 residents of the school
district asking that Wood be rein
stated. SIS
The resignation was accepted by the
school board without dissenting
vote. Il VI
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