The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-29

wanted 10 help her; that he nad no but that he deemed it 3 great favor to be permitted to assist her.
 No one knows what she said, but three months later they were married. and Boards built for her one of the finest houses in the district. Every body said she married him for his money and hated him worse than ever. And. within seven weeks after the wedding. as Boards was riding back toward Campbellsville after foreclos- ing a mortgage he was shot from am bush and killed and Matte Ellet Boards became a wealthy woman Again a swarm of wooers came around as soon as the young widow began to wear a touch of color to re- lieve the heavy mourning which heightened her beauty. She was kind and patient. but none of them gained any advantage until Ed Wyckton came from down about Gadberry In Adair county. where he had been operating an illicit still. He was lodging revH- nue officers and he wandered around Campbellsville and the adjacent coun- try. wyckton was a strong. hand some. daring man and he proved to
 eb about the "wooingest" fellow that ever struck Taylor county. Within few weeks after he beheld the beauti- fus young widow he was a regular caller. and seven months after the second grave was dug In the cemetery of the Harkinses near Lone star apove the valley of Piney creek. he won ner heart and she became Mrs. Eilet- Boards Wyckton. The handsome moonshiner proved the worst of her ventures. Down m Adair county he and his five sisters operated a big illicit still in the moun tains, defying the federal officers ana piling up money. The five sisters-ln- law resented the act of their handsome brother in bringing home a new wife. and the fact that she was wealthy dio not change their opinion. Wyckton' Knowing that in Kentucky 1t IS prao- tically impossible to convict woman of moonshining, shielded himself pe- hind the skirts of the five amazonH who helped him run the still ana |" this family pretty. delicate httle "@' tie was sadly out of place.
 One day, after they had been mar ried eight months, the revenue officers made a raid. There were ten men III the party and Ed was away rom home They came to the house. Where the bride was waiting in alarm ana a huge bulldog attacked them anu M killed by a shot. The officers put' into the house, discovered the shrtn tnq wife. and demanded to know where the s.iII was located. She refused to teIl At that instant two of the SIS ters entered and a fierce battle ensueu: fine women fighting, screaming anu strupqling to reach their guns. Ihe three other sisters, aroused py @ sound of the struggle, rushed to lne house and engaged in the encount... r. After a fearful struggle the i'e "' overpowered and bound. 'r.r
 At that instant Ed Wyckton ran s.or, the woods and opened fire upon the nosse, believing that ms "iie anu sIsters were being III treateu.
 tioobd behind a tree he dropped two of the posse. Then one man crep' S along the fence-a shot rang out Si. Matte saw her husband throw up ms hands reel in a circle ana ofop
 with a bullet in his brain. A,,,
 Almost crazed by grief and the shocN, Matte devoted her wealth to ireeIns the sisters of her husband ana man aged, by employing excellent Aamy rai to set them free when the ieuei"i court met at Louisville .,,,,os
 Mattie Harkins, widowed three times ,n three years, went back to live at horne near Lone Star, building pree
 tv home on the site of the rude house from which she eloped as a scnoolslrl' Two years later she was qnle{ly hiat
 ried to Nat bowman, who hao oeeh s o of her boyhood lovers. Nat hNeo Jus' two years, then died or cons ullpt,o.' H'.a. bis wife nursing him tenderly TOT over o year She buried him alongside the others and mourned for nine months tban became the bride of Andy Low man. Nat's brother. who won her py n,s solicitude and tenderness durlhs ms brothers illness and death ana our'hs her fourth widowhood.
 Rv that time Mattie had come to De lxnown as the 'marryingiest" woman In Kentucky. This time, however lt seemed that she had found husband who would last. They lived happily for four years, and one child-Mattie's first-came to bless the union. Then a tree fell the wrong direction as Andy was chopping 1t down. Matte waited until after dark for her husband to re- turn. then, leaving her four months old habv alone in its cradle, she set forth m the mountain side to seek her hus-
 hand. She found his mangled body
 under the tree, and, all alone in the dark woods, she tore and chopped at the tree and at daybreak she dragged the body Into the house and fell faint ing by the side of her baby's cradle. The walls of the infant attracted atten- | tion-and the neighbors found them. Mattie was slowly nursed back to l health, and her beauty, chastened and made purer by sorrow, attracted the attention of all Wooers came anu | went. Her sorrow was too ue0p' AN' eleven months after her fifth bereav- ment Manuel Hudson came by chance to the house.
 Won Her by Kindness to Baby. There was no handsomer man In all
 the Kentucky hills, and he had been away to college at Williamsburg, and was the "singingest" and guitar plck- ingest" swain around the county. lie
 won Matties love by his Kindness TO her little girl baby. and six months ar
 ter they met they were married
 Hudson was shot in row at FranK-
 fort next year while lobbying in the
 legislature for a timber land bill. and
 one year later his widow was led to the altar by Pony" Dumenil, man from the Blue Grass, who met her at
 Frankfort when, as Mrs. Hudson. she attended a session of the legislature. Dumenil took her to live at Harrods-
 burg, but that same fall he was strlck-
 en with heart disease and fell dead In
 the lobby of the Gibson house, in Cln-
 cinnati, where he had gone to buy goods
 This did not stop the Hooking of bachelors and widowers toward Lone Star, and the unmarried girls made complaints that the handsome multi widow was stealing all the available men. Mason Ayres, a young saw mill er was the ninth man to win her heart, and although they have been married for nearly a week, he still re- mains happy and hearty. and Matte Ayres waiting list" Is beginning to get discouraged.