Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1900-06-14
HURT AERIANkLE AT HIS GATE.
Aud His Nieces Say 1t Was Ruse
of % to Win Rich 82.

of % to Win Rich So.
New York Journals: Gone are the
white angels which stood in the gable
end of old Cornelius Van Ness fine
at Cornwall on the Hudson.
Turned to the wall is the picture of
Emma Louise Van Ness, the dead
wife, for love of whom he had these
figures carved. And in the house q
new divinity reigns, woman of 2s
years old. He is SO. The new wife, ii
the story told last week to Justice
Andrews in the supreme court by AS.
sistant Corporation Counsel Blandy is
true, is an adventures who married
the old man simply to get possession
of his vast fortune, and who is II biga-
mist with youthful husband living.
The story of the angels has been
told in print many times. People
GRAINED their neck as they passed the
house on the main highway between
upper Cornwall and Highland to see
the marble statue which would have
been more i'll keeping In a graveyard
than against the gable of Il house.
Queer stories were told about old
man Van Ness and the wife who was
dead. She came of very old family,
and rich one. He was man of no
aristocratic pretcnsions; man who
liked his glass, his fast horse and
a congenial companionship, and who
had money to pay for what he wanted
He was very generous. To Fretlcr-
ick East, who managed the spacious
grounds and the stables when the
master was away, he gave house
and lot in Cornwall worth $4,000 as a
testimonial of his appreciation. To
a friend in need he gave $4,000 not
many months ago. Another friend in
Rochester. whose home was about to
be lost through the foreclosure of Il
mortgage of $4,000, he gave check
which cleared off the mortgage and
left something substantial to boot.
Alice Wood is the name of the new
divinity. She was a good looking
young woman from Orange county,
where her father kept a vegetable
garden i'll Port Jervis, and where she
is given a first class reputation.
Last fall Miss Wood was visiting in
Cornwall. She sprained her ankle
Just outside the gate of MIR. Van Ness
spacious grounds and was carried
fainting to the house.
Lawyer Blandy declared in court
that the sprained ankle was ruse.
lie said that the young woman, hear
ing that the old man had a habit of
making love to youifg women and ask
ing them to marry him, had deter
mined to be the one to accept for the
purpose of getting possession of the
money.
Mary East, deposing, told a terrible
story of the alleged Vaccinations OF
the young woman. How she drove to
the house the day after the pretended
ankle sprain and asked to be shown
the place. How she told the old man
she would like to live there all lei
life. How she wept tears over mem
orandum card of Mrs. Van Ness, de
ceased, and said that Mr.. Van Ness
was dear old man.
| They were married on February 81
! of the present year, the old man ant
4 Alice Wood, by the Rev. DIR. Eaton
and Alice came to live in the "ange
house, after the angels had been sem
away.
Before this the old man had shown
his love in practical ways. He bo,1gh
his bride to be $1,000 house in whicl
her parents now live. He presented
her with gifts of diamonds.
1t is charged that his gencrosit.
did not stop with marriage; that j
has been quite lavish, indeed, and tina
since that more or less happy even
he has managed to get rid of $2o1, 90
money which his nieccs by marriag
say they have an interest in.
The statements made in the at1idav
its of Mr.. and Mrs. East are of TIN
kind which usually ornament mclo
dramas. They tell of knives and re
volvers taken from the old man; o
violent languagesnnd threats to kill
of open confessions by the young wo
man that she never loved lscr octo
genarian husband, but just marrie
him for his money; of statements b.
her that her husband was "beast.
Then came the accusation of pre-
vioms marriage by Alice Wood accom-
panied by a letter alleged to be fror
man named Pobe, calling her hi
dearest little wife and telling her t
get all she can out of the old man.