Year: 1870

The New York Tribune prints 4
statement of Mrs. Albert d. Rich
ardson, written not, she says, for her
own vindication, but for the sake Of
the noble men and women who have
stood by her through all reviling,
often without explanation from her,
and always in the faith that she was
cruelty wronged, and for his sake
who lost his life in her behalf. Mrs.
Richardson says she married Daniel
Mcfarland in 1857, he representing
himself at the time to be a member
of the Bar at Madison, Wisconsin,


with a flourishing practice, brilliant


political prospects, and possessed of


property to the amount of twenty or
thirty thousand dollars. He also


professed to be Of temperate habits,
purest morals, and previous to mar
rage appeared neither Incorporate,
nor brutal, nor profane, During the


bridal tour her borrowed money to


get back to the West, and soon after
he arrived in Madison he informed


her he was going to remove to New
York; that all his property consisted
of Wisconsin State lands, on which
only a small amount was paid. He
had no money but sufficient to pay
the fares to New York. He never
had any law practice Of consequence,
having devoted himself solely to
land speculation in the West.


They came to New York in Febru-
arv. She was taken i'll on the way
with a violent cold, and detained in
Rochester ten days, On leaving Ro-
chester he had to leave his watch
and chain in pawn for his board bill.


In New York he kept her three or
four weeks, and then, taking all
the iewelry she had to a pawn bro
ker's to pay her board bill, sent her
home to her fathers in New Hamp-
shire. For fourteen days she never
heard from him, and nearly beside


herself with anxiety, went to New
Haven and telegraphed friend for
news of him. He appeared in two


OF three days, and for the first time
she suspected he might be intemper-
ate. A week or two after she re-
turned to her fathers and remained
through the summer Of 1858. He
came once or twice to visit her, and
seemed attached to her but during


the short time she had lived with
him she discovered that he was not
temperate, that he was terribly pro
fance in her presence, that his tenn
per was fretful, passionate, and that
for some slight or fanced causes he
would become sullen and morose,
not speaking to her for day or two.
Returning to New York in the fall
of 1868, Mcfarland hired a cottage
in Brooklyn and furnished two or
three rooms. Some Of the time, per-
haps half. he was good to her and
professed the most passionate devo-
sion, but here he first began to come
home intoxicated. He would also
come home sober, bringing bottles
called schiedam schnapps, contain
ing a quart or so of vile liquor, put
them by his bedside, and drink,
sometimes the whole, before morn
ing. When she hegged him not to
do this, he said his brain was on fire,
and this made him sleep. AS this
was only two or three months before
her first child was born, his breath
and whole body steaming with vile
liquor during the night when she lay
awake beside him made him very
odious to her. so that before she had
been married year her affection
was very much chilled, if not nearly
During the fall of 1858,
he had made two or three trade, of
his Wisconsin lands for real estate,
and made what he called excellent
bargains. During all this time she
was oppressed always with want OF
money, and with great difficulty got
a scanty wardrobe for her baby,which
was born in December. In Novem-
Der her sister visited her. Mcfarland
took her to a matinee at the theater,
left her, and returned at the close of
the matinee grossly intoxicated,
made love to her in his drunken
foolishness, and frightened her ex-
ceedinly. When reproached for his
conduct he swore he would not
drink again, and drew up a written
pledge to that effect, which he kept
several months. Early
in the spring of 1859, she went home
again. Her baby died, and her IA
ther paid the funeral expenses. In
July she returned to Mcfarland.
With her heart sorely bruised, she
was less able to bear the brutality
and violence of his temper. His
treatment was so bad that she went
back to her fathers in October, and
remained till August, 1860. Had
she had the courage to have told her


father and mother of her troubled


life, she probably would not have re-