Semi=weekly graphic., 1899-09-23


 stf,n.e story. a
 It is sedom that wife will stand quietly Dg and see her husband welded to another woman, yet such story is told of herself by Mrs. John J. Me Guire, formerly of Wellston, Mo, but now of Alton, H. AS an explanation for her acquiescence in the peculiar arrangement Mrs. Mcclure says she was prompted by intense love and con fidence in her husband to accept the position of pseudo sister-in-law in the same house with his newly welded bride, upon his mere suggestion. Now she is sorry that 1t ever happened, thinks that she has been misle0 and the other afternoon journeyed to Clay ton to secure certified copy of her marriage license in order to prove ros- itiYely that she was his wife, when she asks 10 have him legally punished, as she declared that she intended to do. In addition to the marriage license copy Mrs. McGuire also secured copy of her marriage certificate from Jus tice Greensfelder, showing that she had been married by him to MT. McGuire Aug. 15, 1898. To the marriage off, cials at Clayton Mrs Mcclure said that she had been acquainted with her hus- band for about one year before she welded him, and trusted implicitly iii all that he proposed to her Conse- quently when he suggested that it would be better for them to give their addresses at Hillsboro, in St. Louis county, she readily consented. Mrs. Mcclure said that everything progress ed smoothly after their marriage until one day after Christmas, when the postman left a letter at their house, which created consternation. Accord ing to Mrs. Mcclure, the letter was from Miss Frances Bryan, a former ac- quaintance of her husband, in which she suggested that an immediate mar riage would be advisable "McGuire was very much perplexed," " said his wife but he finally concluded to make full confession He said that he could not absolutely ignore the letter, for he had promised to wed the writer before he had met her. He asked me not to desert him in the hour Of need, but to help him out of his embarrass- ment. When he could settle matters, he said, we would resume the relations of man and wife He then proposed that l consent to his marrying Miss Bryant, saying that l could live with them as his sister-in-law until an op- portunity came for him to safely ex- trioate himself from the difficulty"
 Mrs. Mcclure says that she stood it as long as possible, living with her husband and his second wife, until about five weeks ago, when she con cluded tha. her husband had no inten- tion of fulfilling his promise. and that her self-respect would not permit her to remain under his roof any longer. She accordingly left him and went to work in Alton. She says:
 We lived together happily enough ] until my husband received the letter one day h'om Miss Frances Bryant of Alton Mr Mcclure did not know what to do al first. but he finally con- fessed to me that she could make it hot for him if he did not comply with the demand Then, when he made the proposition for me to help him out of l the difficulty l consented. as l loved him dearly The marriage ceremony was performed in Alton, and after it. was over I went with them to live. stood 1t until became convinced that he would not make good his promise l to me He kept continually putting me off. and finally I coneludea that could not retain my self-respect and live in the same house with them. accordingly left without cent and managed to eke out scanty existence 1 by the little work that I could do in 1 Alton.
 For long time did not know what to do, as my husband told me that if I made the tets public we w s both go to the penitentiary. He finally denied our marriage altogether and said I could not prove it. Our mar riage certificate had been destroyed. and I came down here today simply to get a copy of it in order to have the proof of my marriage I do not want l to get into any trouble, and if I com mitted any misdeed, did not do 1t knowingly. l would still like to help