The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-17
RETEALED BY 4 BOILER EXPLOSION.
A Man who Was Married without Know
ing II To the Woman lie Loved.

A Man who Was Married without Know
ing 1t to the Woman He Loved.
To be legally married without knowing it. to
spend almost three years seeking way to marry
the woman he loved. and finally, TO accept 500
a settlement for the death Of his rightful wife
and his child, were the experiences Of an up State
man whose domestic history reads like romance.
Tho story was told by a New York insurance adj
iustcr, who makes a specially Of settling boiler
and machinery accident claims,
Not long ago. while travelling in Buffalo was
summoned by telegraph To take charge Of a boiler
explosion case which had taken place in a small
town near that city" he said, "On arriving
promptly at the scene Of the accident found
four story factory lcvecd, and the runaway
boiler 200 yards away at the bottom OF the creek.
As the factory had faced a deserted country road.
and AS the accident happened shortly after .
o'clock ON Saturday when all hands had departed.
and the fireman lived to tell the tale no loss Of
life was suspected. about two hours after the
explosion an unexpected interruption startled
the crowd Of spectators \ man in shirt sleeves
and hatcss came wildly running down the road.
The fellow was almost beside himself with
element, and declared that his wife and baby
were under the ruins. At first most Of us
thought the man drunk later he was thought To
I've an excited crank and was locked up. \ few
bystandcrs, in the meantime procured shovrls.
The twisted axle Of II baby carriage was the first
sign u awaken suspicion. Many others with
shovrls fell 10 with will and by 10 o'clock that
night the bodies Of woman and n baby were
found. The crank was promptly released. He
was most positive in identifying the bodies by
clothing and the pieces Of baby carriage
"No one knew much about the poor fellow cS-
ccpt that he was II carpenter who lived in lonely
4
keep much by himself waited until day after
the funeral when told him represented com
pany which was responsible for the pccuniary
damages suggested that he should call on me
when able To nerve himself t" painful an inter.
view, and promised To- do all consricucously
might in the matter / limited AT SlODOO. lie
called on me within ten days and left promising
10 consider my proposition The next morning,
however, / received u letter which added strange
color 10 our proposed transaction. The letter
was from law firm out West warning me not
e. pay money 10 the husband II the dead woman.
and explaining that the dead wuman's mother
would shortly appear To make n settlement To
"a lawyer that letter meant one OF three things:
either no legal marriage had ever been contracted
or the husband was n bigamist or the wife her
self had been guilty Of that crime. l called on
my man, gave him my information, explained my
deductions, told him would not pay n cent until
! knew where was, and advised him 10 engage
good lawyer. That same night he saw me- lac
was crushed man, and offered To- sign release
for 500 the cost uf funeral expenses accepted
for the sake of avoiding possible future compli-
cations and deciding TO wear that amount of OF the
damages the Western woman would ask. After
the papers had been signed the man told me the
history of his love affair
Three years ago he said, L was engaged 10
Itt,In
nois Two weeks before the day Of the wedding
found my self in court room with II woman against
me and at the end of the trial had the choice Of
marrying her or going 10 prison. l chose the
former OF course, but left the courtroom vowing
never TO live with her and not 10 rest until had
secured a divorce 50 could marry the woman |
loved. | explained all 10 my girl, and she for
gave me and promised 10 wait for me-. Then
came East 10 this town and saved every cent
could to secure n divorce | had saved nearly
enough when | became seriously i'll. Dollar By
dollar my money went for doctors, medicine and
board until | found myself in Il hospital with
little money left. Then my gin came Fast 20 sec
me. She saw me in the hospital and nursed me
and STAGED with me- until was we'll II seemed
impossible 10 both Of us 10 wait longer for each
other You know, WE had decided I" procure
the divorce and then marry. Now We decided
To reverse the plan, We expected 10 save and
get a divorce rs soon ms possible aitcrward The
baby came and sickness came which hampcrCd
our saving, but We were doing nicely when this
dreadful accident happened. | told my story 10
thclawycr He said that because AM an undi-
vorcrd married man II would be legally and
logically impossible TO contract binding COM
monlaw marriage and that therefore my wife and
/ Were really nothing to each other
The man was hcartbrOlicn at the idea that in
death as in ta there was no bond 10 tie him 10 the
girl he loved An idea came 10 me | inquired
more closely into the character of the person from
whom he wished TO be divorced Have you ever
tried 10 find out whether the woman in the mean
time was divorced from YOU" | asked. A light
came into the poor fellows eyes To cut a long
story short, my suspicious were true, The woman
had quietly procured divorce from him six
months after their marriage, All that time hc
might have been legally married before any Justice
minister, and all that time while he was seeking
for the chance tu marry his wife as Christians
marry, she was in reality his lawful wife, The
thought that after all there was a bond between
him and the woman he loved proved healing
balSam to his wound which the thought Of losing
50, 900 could not disturb ."