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<h1> SEVEN WIVES AND SEVEN PRISONS </h1>
<h4>
Or Experiences In The Life Of A Matrimonial Maniac. A True Story. Written
By Himself.
</h4>
<p><br/></p>
<h2> By L.A. Abbott </h2>
<hr />
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<h2> CHAPTER I. THE FIRST AND WORST WIFE </h2>
<p>MY EARLY HISTORY—THE FIRST MARRIAGE—LEAVING HOME TO PROSPECT—SENDING
FOR MY WIFE—HER MYSTERIOUS JOURNEY—WHERE I FOUND HER—TEN
DOLLARS FOR NOTHING—A FASCINATING HOTEL CLERK—MY WIFE'S
CONFESSION—FROM BAD TO WORSE—FINAL SEPARATION—TRIAL FOR
FORGERY—A PRIVATE MARRIAGE—SUMMARY SEPARATION.</p>
<p>SOME one has said that if any man would faithfully write his
autobiography, giving truly his own history and experiences, the ills and
joys, the haps and mishaps that had fallen to his lot, he could not fail
to make an interesting story; and Disraeli makes Sidonia say that there is
romance in every life. How much romance, as well as sad reality, there is
in the life of a man who, among other experiences, has married seven
wives, and has been seven times in prison—solely on account of the
seven wives, may be learned from the pages that follow.</p>
<p>I was born in the town of Chatham, Columbia County, New York, in
September, 1813. My father was a New Englander, who married three times,
and I was the eldest son of his third wife, a woman of Dutch descent, or,
as she would have boosted if she had been rich, one of the old
Knickerbockers of New York. My parents were simply honest, hard—working,
worthy people, who earned a good livelihood, brought up their children to
work, behaved themselves, and were respected by their neighbors. They had
a homestead and a small farm of thirty acres, and on the place was a
blacksmith shop in which my father worked daily, shoeing horses and cattle
for farmers and others who came to the shop from miles around.</p>
<p>There were three young boys of us at home, and we had a chance to go to
school in the winter, while during the summer we worked on the little farm
and did the "chores" about the house and barn. But by the time I was
twelve years old I began to blow and strike in the blacksmith shop, and
when I was sixteen years old I could shoe horses well, and considered
myself master of the trade. At the age of eighteen, I went into business
with my father, and as I was now entitled to a share of the profits, I
married the daughter of a well-to-do neighboring farmer, and we began our
new life in part of my father's house, setting up for ourselves, and doing
our own house-keeping.</p>
<p>I ought to have known then that marrying thus early in life, and
especially marrying the woman I did, was about the most foolish thing I
could do. I found it out afterwards, and was frequently and painfully
reminded of it through many long years. But all seemed bright enough at
the start. My wife was a good-looking woman of just my own age; her family
was most respectable; two of her brothers subsequently became ministers of
the gospel; and all the children had been carefully brought up. I was
thought to have made a good match; but a few years developed that had
wedded a most unworthy woman.</p>
<p>Seventeen months after our marriage, our oldest child, Henry, was born.
Meanwhile we had gone to Sidney, Delaware County, where my father opened a
shop. I still continued in business with him, and during our stay at
Sidney, my daughter, Elizabeth, was born. From Sidney, my father wanted to
go to Bainbridge, Chenango, County, N.Y., and I went with him, leaving my
wife and the children at Sidney, while we prospected. As usual my father
started a blacksmith-shop; but I bought a hundred acres of timber land,
went to lumbering, and made money. We had a house about four miles from
the village, I living with my father, and as soon as found out that we
were doing well in business, I sent to Sidney for my wife and children.
They were to come by stage, and were due, after passing through
Bainbridge, at our house at four o'clock in the morning. We were up early
to meet the stage; but when it arrived, the driver told us that my wife
had stopped at the public house in Bainbridge.</p>
<p>Wondering what this could mean, I at once set out with my brother and
walked over to the village. It was daylight when we arrived, and knocked
loudly at the public house door. After considerable delay, the clerk came
to the door and let us in. He also asked as to "take something," which we
did. The clerk knew us well, and I inquired if my wife was in the house;
he said she was, told us what room she was in, and we went up stairs and
found her in bed with her children. Waking her, I asked her why she did
not come home, in the stage? She replied that the clerk down stairs told
her that the stage did not go beyond the house, and that she expected to
walk over, as soon as it was daylight, or that possibly we might come for
her.</p>
<p>I declare, I was so young and unsophisticated that I suspected nothing,
and blamed only the stupidity, as I supposed, of the clerk in telling her
that the stage did not go beyond Bainbridge. My wife got up and dressed
herself and the children, and then as it was broad daylight, after
endeavoring, ineffectually, to get a conveyance, we started for home on
foot, she leading the little boy, and I carrying the youngest child. We
were not far on our way when she suddenly stopped, stooped down, and
exclaimed:</p>
<p>"O! see what I have found in the road."</p>
<p>And she showed me a ten dollar bill. I was quite surprised, and verdantly
enough, advised looking around for more money, which my wife, brother and
I industriously did for some minutes. It was full four weeks before I
found out where that ten dollar bill came from. Meanwhile, my wife was
received and was living in her new home, being treated with great kindness
by all of us. It was evident, however, that she had something on her mind
which troubled her, and one morning, about a month after her arrival, I
found her in tears. I asked her what was the matter? She said that she had
been deceiving me; that she did not pick up the ten dollar bill in the
road; but that it was given to her by the clerk in the public house in
Bainbridge; only, however, for this: he had grossly insulted her; she had
resented it, and he had given her the money, partly as a reparation, and
partly to prevent her from speaking of the insult to me or to others.</p>
<p>But by this time my hitherto blinded eyes were opened, and I charged her
with being false to me. She protested she had not been; but finally
confessed that she had been too intimate with the clerk at the hotel. I
began a suit at law against the clerk; but finally, on account of my
wife's family and for the sake of my children, I stopped proceedings, the
clerk paying the costs of the suit as far as it had gone, and giving me
what I should probably have got from him in the way of damages. My wife
too, was apparently so penitent, and I was so much infatuated with her,
that I forgave her, and even consented to continue to live with her. But I
removed to Greenville, Greene County, N. Y., where I went into the
black-smithing business, and was very successful. We lived here long
enough to add two children to our little family; but as time went on, the
woman became bad again, and displayed the worst depravity. I could no
longer live with her, and we finally mutually agreed upon a life-long
separation—she insisting upon keeping the children, and going to
Rochester where she subsequently developed the full extent of her
character.</p>
<p>This, as nearly as I remember, was in the year 1838, and with this came a
new trouble upon me. Just before the separation, I received from my
brother's wife a note for one hundred dollars, and sold it. It proved to
be a forgery. I was temporarily in Troy, N. Y., when the discovery was
made, and as I made no secret of my whereabouts at any time, I was
followed to Troy, was there arrested, and after lying in jail at Albany
one night, was taken next morning to Coxsackie, Greene County, and front
thence to Catskill. After one day in jail there, I was brought before a
justice and examined on the charge of uttering a forged note. There was a
most exciting trial of four days duration. I had two good lawyers who did
their best to show that I did not know the note to be forged when I sold
it, but the justice seemed determined to bind me over for trial, and he
did so, putting me under five hundred dollars' bonds. My half-sister at
Sidney was sent for, came to Catskill, and became bail for me. I was
released, and my lawyers advised me to leave, which I did at once, and
went to Pittsfield, and from there to Worthington, Mass., where I had
another half-sister, who was married to Mr. Josiah Bartlett, and was well
off.</p>
<p>Here I settled down, for all that I knew to the contrary, for life. For
some years past, I had devoted my leisure hours from the forge to the
honest endeavor to make up for the deficiencies in my youthful education,
and had acquired, among other things, a good knowledge of medicine. I did
not however, believe in any of the "schools" particularly those schools
that make use of mineral medicines in their practice. I favored purely
vegetable remedies, and had been very successful in administering them. So
I began life anew, in Worthington, as a Doctor, and aided by my
half-sister and her friends, I soon secured a remunerative practice.</p>
<p>I was beginning to be truly happy. I supposed that the final separation,
mutually agreed upon between my wife and myself, was as effectual as all
the courts in the country could make it, and I looked upon myself as a
free man. Accordingly, after I had been in Worthington some months I began
to pay attentions to the daughter of a flourishing farmer. She was a fine
girl; she received my addresses favorably, and we were finally privately
married. This was the beginning of my life-long troubles. In a few weeks
her father found out that I had been previously married, and was not, so
far as he knew, either a divorced man or a widower. And so it happened,
that one day when I was at his house, and with his daughter, he suddenly
came home with a posse of people and a warrant for my arrest. I was taken
before a justice, and while we were waiting for proceedings to begin, or,
possibly for the justice to arrive, I took the excited father aside and
said:</p>
<p>"You know I have a fine horse and buggy at the door. Get in with me, and
ride down home. I will see your daughter and make everything right with
her, and if you will let me run away, I'll give her her the horse and
buggy."</p>
<p>The offer was too tempting to be refused. The father had the warrant in
his pocket, and he accepted my proposal. We rode to his house, and he went
into the back-room by direction of his daughter while she and I talked in
the hall. I explained matters as well as I could; I promised to see her
again, and that very soon. My horse and buggy were at the door. Hastily
bidding my new and young wife "good-bye," I sprang into the buggy and
drove rapidly away. The father rushed to the door and raised a great hue
and cry, and what was more, raised the neighbors; I had not driven five
miles before all Worthington was after me. But I had the start, the best
horse, and I led in the race. I drove to Hancock, N.Y., where my pursuers
lost the trail; thence to Bennington, Vt., next to Brattleboro, Vt., and
from there to Templeton, Mass. What befel me at Templeton, shall be
related in the next chapter.</p>
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