Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-01-29

into weeks, and weeks into months.
One day, taking up paper, the wire
read of a ship that had sunk enroute
to Sitka, from Seattle, off the snowy
shores of Alaska. A score OF passeh-
gers were drowned. Among the names
of the victims was her husband 5. his
body was not recovered.
At first there was horror, despair,
wild. bitter grief; then hope. Perhaps
II was not her husband. II might
have been someone of his name.
Accordingly. as one grasplng at
straw in a vortex, she wrote 10 the
steamship company and to several sur
vjvors for information. Their letters
dispelied her hope. Yes, 1t was her
husband who was drowned-she had no
doubt of it.
n was long, dark year that fol-
lowed. and with two children on her
hands. the mother was confronted with
the old crucial test-the problem or
providence. the indomitable necessity
The demands of life and her little ones.
She must provide for her children.
philosophers have argued it. Cen
fuses have disputed 1t. Preachers,
poets and essayists are still contend
ing IL. But the problem has not been
solved-whether or not 1t is right, even
in the face of necessity, to accept the
grave as a divorce.
Woman Marries Again
But the wife yielded. There came
to her a man of money-a sutton in
whose love and wealth she and her
little ones could find a haven. So
she married him.
By what chance, or Intervention, the
letters of her husband in Alaska had
rniscarried cannot be known, but there
was never a word received by either
of them from the other
Believing that everything was all
right. and that the faulty mail service
of this glacier land was responsible,
the husband contented himself for two
years prospecting. He discovered a
number of rich placer mines. Finally
he sold out for a sum reaching into
considerably over million Ihen.
with a smile on his lips, prayer OF
thanks in his heart, he took the first
shin in the early spring for Seattle,
and hurried to his home. His wife was
gone-his children with her. He was
fold she had married some rich New
Yorker" and disappeared.
He learned afterward the man had
been his former rival, but as the wife
had left the village a few days after
reading of her husbands supposed
drowning, the villages were not even
aware that she believed him dead, and
husband. in turn, was not Informed OF
the facts in the case He looked upon
his wife as a deserter, an eloper, ike
the consort of "Ostler joe" a woman
with face as fair as a summers day.
and a heart as black as night.
Husband Broken Hearted
Believing that she had resorted to q
ruse, a mock marriage. in order to hide
her guilt, and to protect her children,
the husband left the village, broken
hearted, crushed in mind and spirit,
and became one of those most pitiable
wretches of creation, wanderer.
There were long years of travel,
study, pleasures unemployed, ana cease
less travels. Two weeks ago, with a
party of other tourists, he came to
Long Beach
Perhaps had II not been for an init
mate friend whom he happened to
meet here, and who lives in Long
Beach, the story of his life might never
have been revealed, but before he left
here he confided the strange tale to
his friend. The latter, a we'll known
business man, vouchsafes for the truth
of the narrative, but refused loyalty to
reveal the names.
mot for all the world would I tell
you" he said to the correspondent"
but he told of the subsequent meet
ing at Long Beach.
It was in front of the postoffice. Not
dreaming his wife or children were in
any part of the west. but supposine