Year: 1878

One Of the Saddest Stories Of Real Life.


There has been no tragedy in the his


tory of Cincinnati that has been more


distressing than that of the death of Mrs.


John Church on New Years day. The


whole story is bitter one, and in many


particulars the art of the dramatist is


Intellectual in comparison. A home, to


all appearance happy, was, few years


ago, invaded by the scarlet fever, and


the eldest, boy named after his mothers


family name, after weeks of suffering,


was taken. Two little girls were sorely
stricken, but survived. The mother was


worn out with grief and watching, and


the father sorely harassed. In moment
of irritation there was a scene of excite


ment that was strange, and the wife
said there was violence. The imputation


was resented by the husband. The wife


left her home for her fathers house.
There was separation. The children
were two little girls. Each of the pa
rents took one of them, and they were
taken to new England. The separation
of the children was terrible. The one in
the custody of the mother died. Then,
as during the fatal illness of the little
boy, she showed how fervent was her
mother love, and the wife heart appears
in the tender messages to the husband
from the death-bedside of the little one. |
And now there was but one left-little
Edith-and the mother grieved over
separation from her-mourned for her
children like Rachael for her children
when they were not. Her petition for a
divorce was to get possession of her
child. Her whole soul was in that, for
the sake of her child. Testimony was
being taken, and her anxieties were mex
pressible. She did not eat enough to
sustain her strength, and falling ill
begged for her child. 1t was sent for,
and a most unhappy misunderstanding
arose instantly upon her arrival. The
had been made to the
suffering woman that Edith was on the
way, and she frightened. Edith was
taken to the sick room, and. weary with
fell asleep on the mothers
bed, and the mother looked upon her
sleeping innocent with eyes glistening
with Joy, not knowing that the parting
was to come 80 soon. The news that the
child must 20 was communicated to the
reviving invalid, and she was heart
broken by the blow and died. The
father saw in the appeal of the lawyer
which his child handed him only an at
tempt to circumvent him, and gain pos
session of the child by stratagems-a
strange and wretched delusion-and that
very night he was on the cars with poor
Edith, bearing her to her eastern
home, fully convinced that the illness of
his wife was but part of deep-laid
scheme to gain an advantage. The death
of his wife will probably reveal to him
the truth that he was awfully mistaken;
and we hope he has no enemy who would
add to the torment Of the thought that
his hardness was based upon injustice,
and his apprehensions without warrant
His attorneys explain that the removal
of Edith from the house where the moth
er lay ill was necessary, owing to legal
points in the divorce case, still pending.
Mrs. Church was q very beautiful woman,
and of high standing in society, being
niece of the celebrated Thomas Corwin,
the orator and politician. The de-
tails of the last week of her life are
touching in the extreme. Her time
was spent between piteous calls for little
Edith and the heaping of caresses upon
an imaginary child, drawing the bed
clothes to her breast and addressing them
in the most touching way as her dear
Edith. During the sane intervals, which
were very few and brief, she suffered ter
riby, complaining of her breast and call
ing wildly for her child.-Er.