The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-11
FOR THE SAKE OF A WOMAN.
Sad Chapter in the Life of Gen.
Gatacre.

From the New York Herald
And all for the sake of a woman! So
might run the epitaph on Maj. Gen. Will
liam Forbes Gatacre.
a strange thing is mana stranger, wo-
man. Higher at her highest than the loft
iest-minded man, lower at her lowest
than the most degraded man; an angel or
a demon; spur to noble deeds or a spurn
to evil ones; the kindest thing on earth
or the most cruel: a prayer from heaven
or a howl from he'll; such is the being
who can make or mar man
When William Forbes Gatacre, then
colonel. was ordered to Dublin some years
ago 10 take command of the Eighty
eighth Connaught Rangers, he took with
him young wife whom he had just mar
ried. Everything seemed to smile upon
the couple He was indeed, several years
older than the lady, but he was a man
whom any woman might be proud to call
her husband He had won a soldierly rep
utation at home and abroad. He was tall,
handsome, dgnifed-perhaps his dignity
leaned over a little too sternly toward the
martinez slde-and his attitude toward his
! wife was one of chivalrous courtesy.
She became favorite in society, a toast
| to the army circles. She was feted and
| courted. Col Gatacre was pleased with
| the attentions that were showered upon
| her He had mistaken confidence in her
| Wifely loyalty until
People began to talk. They coupled her
| name with that of a certain good-looking
| Don Juan-a captain in the Guards called
| Fitzgerald. Nobody. of course. dared to
| talk in the coloners presence. But he
| suddenly grew aware of whisperings be
| hind his back that turned to confused 81
| leuce at the turning of his face. He
| sternly demanded of one of the whisper
| ers, caught in the act, what the sibilation
| might mean.
| he ufb{s rrraes hnc Nrfn Of n
| did friend against whom the poet has
| warned US
But of all plaques, good Heaven, thy
wrath can send,
Save, save. oh! save me, from the candid
| friendr
The candid friend hemmed and hawed.
| At last-true to his native CandOr-he
blurted out the truth. There might be
nothing In it, he demurred but, but
Brought to bay, the wife confessed the
truth. He was master of the situation.
Your truthfulness," he said, has spar
ed me che necessity of killing the man
want no scandal but you must abide
| by my conditions"
And they are?"
That you and Col. Fitzgerald leave the
| country at once; that you leave il to-
| gether; that you are never to return. I,
900, will leave it forever"
In vain the woman pleaded. She would
forget the captain. She would return to
| her husband She would be a loyal wife
| His future prospects
Never mind my future prospects"
grimly interrupted the other II will ask
for a transfer to some colonial post. If
cannot get il I will throw up my COM
mission. 1 will go abroad as an outcast
if necessary; but you and he must also
go abroad. l shall kill him If 1 meet him
| here again"
The conditions offered by Col. Gatacre
| were accepted.
The compact was faithfully kept by all
the parties.
Capt. Fitzgerald was a man of some
wealth. 1t took him Int a short time to
settle up his affairs in Dublin. Then he
| and Mrs. Gatacre set their faces toward
the West. They sailed for the New
| World in which they hoped to find obli-
won for the shame which had overtaken
them in the Old.
AT first they We're apparently success
full. Arriving in New York as man and
wife, they made their way across the con-
| tinent to Los Angeles, in California They
hired fine apartments in the best hotel
| The wealthy Capt. Fitzgerald and his
| charming wife were received with open
| arms by the local society. They became
prominent members of the English col
ony. But the world is a small one, as we
| all know.
The entire story as detailed above was
rose in its might and cast the couple out
They fed to Duarte. There Capt Fitz-
gerald purchased a cozy little home. sur
rounded by an orange grove. He devoted
| himself to the cultivation of his fruit.
] The woman pined away and sickene1 and
died. The man was made of sterner stuff.
At last accounts he was married, really
married this time, and apparently living
happily in sight of the tomb of the wo-
man who had no right to bear his name.
And what about Col. Gatacre? He is
| Col. Gatacre no longer, but Mai. Gen Sir
William Forbes Gatacre, X c. b.. ia
nous for gallantry at Chitral in 1895; at
Atbara, at Khartoum and at Omiurman.
in the Soudan. in 1898, and now likely
despite his first reverses. to win still
greater renown in South Africa. The name
! of the obscure ranger who was the sub-
| ject of whispers in the Dublin society of
years ago is to-day, after turning his
! back apparently upon fame and fortune
| a household word in the homes Of Eng
land and the civilized world. Loud-mouth-
ed rumor is busy with what was once the
football of petty gossip
VIII he ever go back to England? What
| honors the future may have in store for
him no one may say. A peerage a seat in
! Parliament, wealth, official distinction
| all these grateful Queen and n eratef1il
public will be willing to shower upon the
heroes Of the South African war. But a
| painful memory and a self-registered VOW
may stand in the way Of their acceptance.
| ~
1T is proposed by a Michigan company
| to carry a current of 1900 volts ninety
miles. Some years ago the Kalamazoo
| company was formed, to take electrical
energy from the Kalamazoo river. A cam
has been built. and the lines to the CITY
of Kalamazoo are now in operation, with
a voltage of $500 which will soon be in
creased to 1900. Jackson a distance cf
min ty miles, will soon get its electric cur.
rent of the full strength. This is as much
power as can be conveyed in overhead