Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-10-18

7
Seven years ago a mild sensation was
created in an Ohio town which is con-
nected with Wheeling by street railway
! line, over wedding which was referred
TO at the time as a union of December
and January. A well-to-do farmer, 66
years of age, became enamorsd of a
prepossessing girl of sixteen, who was
i the daughter of poor but eminently re-
spectacle parents. The aged lover
pressed his suit with all the ardor Of
| youth. The girl had just discarded
short skirts, and on account of the dis
parity in their ages, turned a deaf ear
| to his proposals. With degree of per-
| sistency worthy of a better cause, he
sought her company, and sang, with
variations, the stereotyped song-"Bet-
| ter an old mans darling, than young
mans slave" She was just budding
into womanhood, with form and feat
ures of striking beauty. and she did
not lack for suitors. None of them,
however, could crafty her desire to
visit the Dream City in Chicago. The
old farmer promised to take her to the
| Worlds Fair, and so won reluctant
consent.
| The marriage was solemnized, and
! December fulfilled his promise. Then
/ he took his young bride to his farm,
and gratifed her every desire which in
| volved an expenditure of money. Yes
terday he appeared at police headquar-
! tiers, and sought the assistance of Chief
| Clemans in locating his wife, He en-
| listed the sympathy of Capt. Clemans,
and shortly afterward the woman was
located in furnished room in Market
/ street. The aged husband, now 70,
gray and withered, confessing to the
paternity Of children in the forties, con-
! fronted his 23-year-old wife in the
private Office of the Chief
/ There, link by link, was forged the
story of their married life, and its re-
cital was of fascinating interest. The
young wife charged her husband with
/ insane jealousy, and related incidents
| to the truthfulness of which his silence
attested. Soon after their marriage,
| December was afflicted with cataract
on his eye. A surgeon came to perform
an operation, and made a remark about
the symmetrical figure of January. He
was fired peremptorily, and another
! physician secured.
| On another occasion the pastor of the
| village church called. A handsome oil
| painting of the wife hung upon the
/ wall. The clergyman placed little too
much ardor in his expression of adj
miration for the portrait, and he left
| the house on the toe of DEFENDERS
| boot
! January owned parrot, to which she
was very devoted, lavishing upon the
! bird much of the affection which De-
cember regarded as his own, as a mat
! ter Of right. The parrot would kiss
his young mistress when she left the
house, and one day the husband de-
tected the bird in the act. Polly's neck
was wrung.
| The young woman also owned a pug
! dog, which she was fond of taking
about with her and caressing. In fit
| of jealousy, December took the I'M
offending canine out into the barn-yard,
and fed him on a diet of cold lead.
! All the while, matters were going
| badly for the old farmer. 1t was found
necessary to sell a portion of his land to
supply more money for January, then
another plot, and another, and then the
4 house. The piano then became an OBJ
+, lect of utility instead Of ornament, and
4 it was converted into cash. Finally the
/ bed was sold, and then the crash came.
| January admitted that she was I'M
faithful after five years. When Deem
4 Der was no longer able to provide for
| her. she left him and came to Wheel
/ ing. He followed. He upraided her,
and proposed that she go TO work in
! a cracker factory, to provide means to
care for him as a wife should. January
was obdurate. When they left the
office Of Chief Clemans, they walked in
IonnOsita directions