Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1906-04-10
Deposition of Mrs. Ralph Hedges in
Big Damage Suit Reveals Basis
of Her Complaint.
STORY OF TWO LOVE LETTERS
One Alleged to Have Been Written
By the Doctor, Another From
Mrs. BelCheur Produced.

Mrs. DR.. Ralph S. Hedges, who is the
plaintiff in the most sensational dam
age suit ever instituted in Fergus
county, was on the witness stand be-
fore Justice William T. Mcfarland
for over three hours last Wednesday,
giving her deposition in the case, the
proceedings having been instituted up
on motion of Blackford & Blackford
who are the attorneys for Mrs. Bel
cheur in the case. Q. w. Belden and
J. G. Huntoon appeared as counsels for
the plaintiff and examined Mrs. Hedg-
es at great length concerning her rea-
sons for entering the famous suit.
The testimony of Mrs. Hedges
brought out that Mrs. Belcheur ar
rived in Lewistown from her home
near Lavina in December last and
went to the Schroeder hospital where
she remained pending her recovery
from two operations which was per-
formed upon her. DIR. Hedges had
Mrs. Hedges, that shortly after he
commenced to attend Mrs. Belcheur,
his visits to the city hospital became
much more frequent than his profess
sional connection with the invalid ne
cessitated. AS soon as Mrs. Hedges
learned of the relations which, she al
1aooc ovictad ,otu-oor how l,,el>o,1 = IL
Mrs. Belcheur, she went to the hospit-
al and commanded Mrs. B. to leave
the city at once. Mrs. Belcheur did
leave but was away but short time
and upon her second arrival in the city,
DR.. Hedges resumed his attentions,
much to the pain and misery of the
plaintiff.
Mrs. Hedges discovered the alleged
relations between her husband and the
defendant in the case through the aC-
cidental possession of two letters, one
of which, it is alleged was written by
the doctor to his patient and the other
written by Mrs. Belcheur to the doc
tor. The manner in which these let
ters came into her possession is inter-
esting.
DR.. Hedges, it appears, occasionally
kept some of his papers in the safe of
Wilson q LeWellin the druggists. Mrs.
Hedges went to the store one day and
asked one of the gentlemen to Slve her
some papers of the doctors which were
In the safe. They gave her an envel-
ope which was addressed to the doctor
and which she believed contained a
deed to mining claim. Upon opening
this envelope she found therein the fol-
lowing missive which is self-explana-
tory and which she alleges was written
by the doctor to Mrs. Belcheur:
Darling: The dreaded, the eagerly
anticipated hour has at last come, and
l can scarcely write for trembling.
There have been two knocks at my
door and I dare not answer. But we
must keep the nurse in the dark, for
We cannot tell what is in that big
head"
The letter then proceeds to state
that the writer is in need of some mon-
ey and that the person to whom it is
written must send him a check for
$3.50, the amount of his fee for attend
ing her. The letter is signed Ralph
The letter which was introduced a.
having been written to DR.. Hedges by
Mrs. Belcheur was found by the wit |
ness, so her testimony went, among
the doctors papers after he had left
the city. The letter was signed by no |
one and addressed to no one but was
written in the same hand as another |
letter which was found with it and |
signed by Mrs. Belcheur The second |
letter was simply business note. The |
unsigned letter was as follows:
Beloved, beloved: can you be de-
ceiving me? Let me die if you do not
love me. I cannot go through life
without your love. You have shown
me a paradise on earth. Can it b..
that 1t is but pastime with YOU Man,
have mercy on my soul. You will kill
all that is good and pure in me If you
do not care. Surely you could not be
deceiving me, dearest. l cannot, cam
rot bear to think of it.
beloved, my heart is 'trv joyous.
for I have seen and kissed you. my own
precious one. I can hear your beloved
voice. Wouid YOU know kiss on pa
per? When you are not busy any mor=
shall take you into my arms and kiss
you.
You are sweet. wonderfully sweet to
me. my precious one. I wonder if you
can realize how very dear and sweet
you are. Your eyes are so blessedly
true. and one look into them robs life
OF its doubts and my poor, weary heart
Of its fears. and makes me feel that I.