Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1900-08-23
FERvID TALE OF ROMANCE,
Miss Packard Said Lite Was UnbearabIe
Without Wilkinson.

Miss Packard Said Life Was Unbearable
without Wilkinson.
Philadelphia Record Special.
Atlanta, Ga, Aug. is. S.--"Do / want
to 60 back! home? Why, of course not
Why should i have gone away if | were
to turn cold within only few days
and go back home? l realize fully the
step | have taken. ] know | have
stolen away my sisters husband /
know what have done. / do not want
the pity or the forgiveness of anyone.
All | want is to be left alone with him.
That is ali either of us wants?'
Such is the decision of Josephine
Packard, the pretty girl who eloped
with the husband of her sister, at
Dover, Del, and who is now an inmate
OF the female detention ward at the
police barracks of Atlanta.
She and DR.. Howard NJ. Wilkinson
were arrested this morning AT respect
able house on Peachtree street, where
rooms are to let. Wilkinson at first
said his name wns DIR. Porter, represent
ing himself as citizen of Baltimore ;
but later he admitted that he had used
an alias, and said he was the man for
whom the police OF Atlanta have been
searching for two days.
AS in the case of the girl, Wilkinson
expressed sorrow for the stop he had
taken.
The girl makes remarkable state
ment. She declares that she will go
back to Dover If Wilkinson is allowed
to GO with her; but otherwise she will
not. II be is imprisoned here che says
she will wait until he is released from
custody and then leave Atlanta with
him.
Miss Packard says she wrote frequent
letters TO Wilkinson during the two
weeks prior to their departure frou,
Dover, pleading with him to take her
away from the place, He oorroborates
her statement, and says he would not
have left II she hadn't begged him with
such earnestness to do so.
Miss Packard is almost defiant in her
manner. She would not have talked
had not Wilkinson asked her to do so.
When he spoke she turned her large
brown eyes, with the loyelight in
them, upon him, and announced that
she was ready to make statement.
lie sat near her as she spoke, and fire.
quently made suggestions as her story
was told, not telling her what to say,
but suggesting that she tell of certain
things. She invariably complied.
don t'know how to make state
ment TO the newspapers. said the girl,
when told what her interviewer had
come for. eff you will ask me ques-
tions ! will answer them; but / know
can't start at the beginning and tell
you everything you want to know -
Why did leave home? Because it
was simply unbearabls there. They
wouldn't allow US to see each other,
and was forbidden to even fecognize
MIN on the streets. We loved each
other. and could not stand it any
longer, so we left Dover to be together.
/ am sure neither Of us Is sorry.
"Tell him that you wrote me, /" sug-
gested Wilkinson.
"Oh, yes! " said the girl, but she was
speaking rather reluctantly. 81 wrote
him to come and gst me--to take me
away from my home--so that could be
with him. l wrote him several such
letters as that before he came after me.
"How long have loved him? l
loved him before his marriage to my
sister. 1t was after his engagement TO
her, however. | loved him-oh how
l loved him, but l did not say anything.
II could have blocked my sister s
marriage to him, but would not, because
l. thought I could ,rut him out of my