Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1913-12-23
PRISONER AND A
Slave FOR
Love
FOR ALL OF THREE YEARS ADELAIDE
BRANCE LIVED IN A SMALL ROOM
ADJOINING OFFICE OF The MAN
she LOVED.---ALLIANCE REVEALED
BY HIS DEATH.
EVEN WIFE OF DEAD
MAN DID NOT KNOW

Monticello, n. Y, Dec. 23.-Melvin
H. Couch, former district attorney of
! Sullivan county, was quietly buried
this afternoon, leaving behind him no
written word to explain his strange
dual existence and associated with his
slavelike companion, Adelaide Brance,
who for three years was a virtual
prisoner in his Office.
From a cell in the Jail where she
was held prisoner on technical
charge, the woman saw the funeral
procession pass. She had expressed
Ia wish to be at the grave, but the law
yer's widow forbade it. Later in the
day she was released
Couch died on the lounge in his
Office early Sunday morning His com.
a physician. Then for the first time
1t became known that for three years
she had, for the love of the man, eX
listed in tiny quarter of the office
partitioned off as a combination sleep
ing room, living room and kitchen.
Couch, for years. had spent most of
his time in his Office The Brance wo-
man says she loved him devotedly,
that he returned her love and that
their relations dated back fifteen
years, when she, as a book agent,
CHANGED to call on him.
The woman looks pale and hag-
gard today. She was attractive ten
years ago. but her devotion to Couch
and the secret alliance and its coin
cdent confinement have aged her ter
ribly She has refused to discuss the
case, saying that she wishes to drop
out of sight in order not to cause the
Couch family any more notoriety.
Her history is vague, little being
known of her except that she formerly
lived in Goshen, n. Y, and has a
brother somewhere in Ohio.
The death Gf Couch, prominent
lawyer and former district attorney OF
Sullivan county, revealed that, un-
known to his family and friends and
to his clients. Miss Brance, had lived
for three years in secret room con.
Meeting with his law office. Couch
was found yesterday lying dead on
his Office lounge. Death was due to
rupture of a blood vessel In the next
room crouched the frightened woman
who admitted she had seen him die,
but insisted she was not responsible
for his death. She said she was Ade-
laide NJ. Brance, of Goshen, N. Y,
and that the secret room had been
her only home during the past three
years.
Couch was G6 years old. The woman
is 40 Her hair has begun to turn
gray. She was poorly dressed and the
room where she lived was sparselv
furnished with an old cook stove, a
table, an iron bed and two chairs.
She said she had lived there volun-
tarily and had never gone out in the
day time. At intervals she went for
a walk at night.
The woman was held on technical
charge, but the coroners verdict as
to the cause of COUGHS death support.
ed her assertion that she was not re.
sponsible. The attorney, she said, died
of a ruptured blood vessel Monday
morning. The autopsy today brought
the verdict that death was due to the
breaking of the ascending aorta.
Miss Brauce said she met Couch
three years ago when she called at
his office to sell books. The lawyers
friends remember that about this
time he had the room where she was
found cut Off from his office by a
heavy partition.
COUGHS wife first learned of her
husbands secret when word of his
death brought her to the
office where he lay dead. She had
visited the office frequently but had
never entered the adjoining room.
She tainted when she confronted Miss
Brance.