The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-04-18
AN ENoCH ARDEN STORY.
Occurred Out West and Is Rich in
Romance.

hdnSdS lily IlldH IldS ul-EIlOCH-
Ardened Enoch Arden. He has lived
out the good, old-fashioned story and
some more, too, and has a story in his
life that for romantic details and cir
cumstances quite puts the poets crea-
ton to shame.
The story was brought to light by
special United States pension examiner
who was detailed to investigate
claim which was the undoing of the
| hero as well as the heroine of the lit
| tie romance. These pension examiners,
| be II known, examine into the legal
! aspects only, of the cases presented
! to them. One of the first things that
! is done in every case is to determine
| the marriage relations of the claimant,
| in order TO establish absolutely, If
| the person be a widow, her right to
the pension asked for, or, if man, in
order to avoid any future difficulty in
the claims from widow and children.
| The utmost secrecy is maintained in
such Investigations, and even when
| gross violationes of state laws on mar
riage are discovered they are not re-
| ported to local authorities.
| The Kansas City man whose past
has just been uncovered by this means
is now firm believer in the axiom
that the world is a small place. With
his past nearly forty years behind
him he thought he was safe until it
suddenly stalked into his house one
day and met him fave to face. This
man, who must, by reason of the Sc
| crecy maintained by the pension de-
| partment be nameleSs, served during
the civil war as a private soldier in
Massachusetts regiment. At the close
of the war he went to Pennsylvania
| and was married soon afterward to a
| girl whom he had met under romantic
circumstances during his term of serv-
| ice. She was young and pretty and
| had a little fortune of her own, so
| that for a year or more everything
went beautifully, and the couple were
| as happy as the regulation bride and
| groom usually are. In the second
| year. though, the troubles began. The
| brides mother came to live with her.
She was not young nor pretty, but
she was great many other things
| that are not pleasant. She immediate
| ly took charge of the home, the bride,
the man and everything else in sight.
Presently she brought another daught-
| er to join the family circle, another
| daughter and the daughters daugh-
| ter, and the various generations of
| daughters shared the maternal man
agerial instinct. Home was no longer
heaven to the man, and he expressed
himself quite freely to the bride. But
| it was her mother and her sister and
| her sisters child and she would not
let them be abused. AS long as she
had home it was theirs, and, any
| way, was it not her money that had
bought the home? So the man de-
cided that it was up to him-and went
West.
"Hc Died in the West"
Five years passed, and rumor came
from the West that the man was dead.
So the bride doomed a widows veil,
J and the mother and sister dutifully
| wore black, too, for the unmanagea BILE
| one. No sooner was the conventional
year out, however, than the conven-
tional consolation came, in the form
of another ex-soldier. They were mar
ried and settled down in the little
Pennsylvania town. Children came to
them and in the course of years,
grandchildren, and their lives were
full and contented. Last year the SOL
der husband died, and the widow APP
piled for pension on his war record
In the investigation into her claim the
fact of her first marriage developed,
and also the fact that there had been
no positive proof of the husbands
death All she knew was that 'he
had. died in the West" Accordingly
the matter was put into the hands of
the Kansas City office and. with in
structions to find the man, dead or
alive.
The case was a good deal or prob
lem. The man had not been heard of
since 1867, and to anyone who lives
west of Buffalo, the West is a pref
ty big place. The local examiner, how
ever, conceived the idea of writing to
the mans old comrades in his Mas
sachusetts company, in the hope that
some of them might have seen or
heard of him. Accordingly letter was
dispatched to every surviving member
of the company. By this means the
case was advanced eight years, for enc
of these comrades said that he had
seen the man in Chicago in 1876 and
that he was then talking of joining
the regular army. The pension ex-
aminer who ought to be a detective,
then decided that it was not improb-
able that the man might be drawing
a pension on his regular army record
Accordingly he wrote all the pension
agents in the United States to learn
If such a man was on their lists
Much to his surprise came the reply
from the agency in Topeka, stating
that the man was on their roll, and
that he lived in Kansas City, on South
west boulevard.
1t was easy after that. The pension
agent called on the man Immediately
introduced himself. and was in turn
introduced to the mans wife and four
children. The situation grew. The
wife was curious and the children
were curious. The man was wary
When the pension agent finally got
him alone he faced him with the rec
ord of his previous marriage. The
man went white, and lied like a gen.
tleman.
1T is not true, and you cannot prove
it," he asserted.
1T is true, and 1 can prove it," re-
piled the agent and produced a copy of
the marriage certificate and photo
graphs of the couple taken at the time
of their marriage.
Back to the Old Home.
Then the man broke down and cried
like a child. Yes, it is true it is all
true, and even more than you know
is true" he said. After l came West
1 prospered and met the woman who
is now my wife. From the first
loved her. But 1 never forgot the
! fact that l was legally bound to a