The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-07-05
DAVID TELLS WHY
Husband of Mrs. Nation Ex-
plains Cause OF Separation.
Says She Abandoned Him is the
True Version.
SAID HARSH THINGS.
Closed a Letter ssYour Wife Once
But Wife No Longer.
The Husband Tells Of Begin.
ming of Saloon Smashing.
Says That He Made an Effort to
Prevent Marital Break.


The marital troubles of Mrs. Carrie
Nation have never been exploited be-
fore the public, and indeed it is not
generally known that there ever We're
any troubles between Mrs. Nations and
her husband, David Nation. Sugges-
tions have come from time to time,
however. which indicated that relations
between the two were strained, but
neither party consented to talk freely
about these matters. Upon advice of
Mrs. Nation the State Journal wrote
her husband who is at Iberia, Ohio, and
regarding the family affairs has receiv-
! ed from him the following statement;
In October, 1899, we returned from
Oklahoma Territory where we had re-
sided, to our home in Medicine Lodge,
Kan, on account of my health, under
the advice of my doctor. / went to
Wichita and bought and furnished our
house of seven rooms with solid oak
furniture, new carpets table and cup
board-ware, new stoves, including a
steel cooking range, organ and sewing
machine, all in as good style and much
better than most people in our circun-
stances; furnished her money to take a
course IN magnetic healing Not being
satisfied with that, I paid her tuition in
the Wichita College of Osteopathy until
she graduated. All this I did to leave
her a comfortabl BILE home and the means
of living independently after shall
have passed over the Silent river, as my
health was and is in such a preearious
condition that according to the course
of nature-being in my seventy fourth
year, cannot live many more years.
In December, 1901, it was agreed be-
tween wife and / that 1 was to go on
a visit to my brother, Seth Nation at
Erie, Kan, whose son, Hon. ]. M. Ma
ton, is a member of the Kansas leglS-
lature; and she was to remain at home
and take care of the house and so on,
until my return, and then she was to go
to kirksville, NO, to take a special
course in surgery. A few days after
arrived at Erie, she wrote me that she
had arranged matters and was going
to leave and for me not to write until
1 heard from her.
"A few days after this letter, got a
telegram from her at Wichita, telling
me she was in jail for smashing the
Carey hotel saloon, and for me not to.
come as she did not need me. However
on the Sd of January, 1901, went to
Wichita and continued with her and
stood by her and did all I could to get
her out of her trouble and keep her out.
until spent over 5000. I then saw that
it would be suicidal for me to continue
longer, as she would not take my ad-
vice and my means was being well ex-
hausted, and what little had I wanted
to keep to pay for my burial, and my
condition of health would stand the
strain no longer.
1t was then agreed between us that
1 was to go to Medicine Lodge and ar
range some business affairs, and either
go to Texas and spend the summer
with my daughter, Mrs. J. c.. Williams
or go to Iberia, Ohio, and stay with my
daughter, Mrs. William Riddle. / then
went to the Lodge, arranged my busi-
ness, writing to her every day as was
my practice. On Tuesday I wrote
her that on the next Friday I would
leave for iberia, Ohio, stopping at Erie.
kaS., and Sycamore, Ind. with
brother; at Marion, Ind. with a sister:
at Union City, Ind, with another sis
ter, and from there to this place,
Iberia, and that I would keep her post
ed as to my whereabout and move
mentS, and that when she got ready
to go back to our pleasant home in
day after writing this last letter I was
handed one from her written to
neighbor lady friend, enclosed in which
was one to me, unsealed. In both of
these letters she said many hard, harsh
and false things about me- and then
worse than all else in closing the one
to me she said: 'Good-by to your once
wife but one no longer. (Signed) Carrie
Nation Always before this she closed
her letters by signing Wife
This letter I showed to one or two
of my friends, who advised me to pay
no attention to it, but just continue
to write as usual, which 1 did When
I arrived at Erie wrote her every day
just as If nothing had happened. no
titled her when I would leave and to
write me at Sycamore. When / got
there, there was no letter for me from
her, and I have never received a line
from her since the one signed Once
wife but no longer She told me while
at Topeka that she would never go
back to Medicine Lodge to live. and
she has told many others that she
would never live with me again. I
never said I would not live with her
She left ne. The day after left Medi-
cine Lodge she went there and took the
Some. and shipped the balance to To-
pexa. where I presume she is using it,
She took up her residence at Topeka
registered as a voter. contrary TO my
advise and wish. While at Medicine
Lodge she changed the contract I had
made with the tenant in the house
made q new one much less to our ad-
vanta ge. and signed it Carrie MorSe
Nation name she never used in our
twenty-five years of married life; for
bid the tenant paying me any of the
rent. and I have got none. although I
had in my contract, directed him to
pay her one-ha1f and me the other. She
took valuable papers Of mine. of no use
to her or anyone else, and some that
will cost me money and much trouble
in consequence
These are the facts, and no one ac-
| Quainted with me will dispute them.
and all of which can be easily substan-
tiated- an now here with my daugF-
ter. Mrs. William Riddle, who cares for
all my wants and rubs and bathes my
much swollen rheumatic limbs every
night. It IS not home, but the nearest
have had for fifteen long vea~s
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