Year: 1876

tsf4 49,


How n Denaslfai Girl WINS Re-


witchcd by y Gssy Outlnw.


From the Omaha HeraId.1


There is q morbid sentiment in socie.
ty that in kind Of an abstract manner,
glorifies great criminal, and no who
boast Of lone virtue and thousand
crimes," has hold upon the memory
of the public that can not easily be
shaken off. In like manner the pie!
bian boor who burned the Temple OF
Diana was moro famous than the royal
architect who reared it, An instance in
point was the marriage in Council
Bluffs yesterday of Sandy" alias
George Melville, whose swindling
games and greater crimes, and his fire.
quent marvellous escapes from death by
bullet and halter, have made him ia
NOUS through the entire West. Bewitch-
ed by strange fatalities that have always
followed the man. discovering some
good points that gleam out Of his dark
career of crime, and admiring in Linn
those very qualities that have made
him an outcast in society, a woman
has followed him, often with her pre-
sence and always with her love, and
yesterday she sealed the compact exists
ing between them by marrying him un
der most humiliating circumstances.


To those who have not this prior
knowledge of him, Sandy will be re-
membered by the people of tho COM
munity by his attempt, in connection
with Clinton, TO swindle an old man by
selling him lot of spurious gold coins
in exchange for greenbacks. 1t will be
remembered that the men were both ar
rested and were tried before eUnited
States Commissioners at Council
Bluffs, and "Sandy" sentenced to five
years imprisonment in the Iowa Peni-
tentiary. While awaiting trial. or ra-
ther while being conducted to the JUS
tees Court for the preliminary ex-
animation, Sandy attempted to escape
from the officer in two different instan-
ces, and was shot at and hit by the
officer, in the latter case being wound
ed so badly that it was reported that he
could not recover. As these troubles
collected around Sandy, the love of the
woman who has at last married him
grew the stronger, and she haunted the
Jail like a spectre; finally gaining the
permission of the officer, she entered and
nnrsed him through the hours when his
life was despaired of, and at last when
the stern decree of the law interposed
it's edict, and declared that they should
be separated by the strong, firmer bars
of the State Penitentiary, the woman
sought and obtained the privilege Of the
officers to marry him before he was taken
from her. The necessary arrangements
we're made and the two strangely match
ed beings we're married in the Jail, the
ceremony being performed by Justice
of the Peace. The witnesses were the
prisoners, who were ordered to remain
at the rear end of the hall, and few
persons who were permitted to look in
side through the CRATES of the front
door. 1t was queer spectacle and shows
what woman will do for the man she
loves. There was Sandy. alias Melville,
or as she claims, Melody; that being
the name under which he was married.
just ready to be shackled preparatory
to starting for Fort Madison, where he
is to serve term of five years impr:s>
onment. There was a woman, young,
and of rath"r attractive appearance,
clinging to criminal, willing and anx-
ious to bear his name and share with
him all the obloquy attached thereto.
But then such is woman's nature, and
such has it always been from the time
of Eve. As they stood there assuming
the obligations of the marriage vow, the
thought was we'll defined in each mind
how differently it would have been had
the relation of the parties been revers-
ed, and the woman the criminal instead
of the man. The chances are, in a case
of th at kind that the man ovoD ~ ho
had been the cause of committing the
crime, would have deserted her in the
last extremity, and left her to bear her
disgrace alone, and probably have felt
a secret Joy that he was able to place
the blame all ON her. ,,But the man can't
be blamed; his oil forefather Adam set
him the example years ago.