. . . . . . . .
P. 24: I had seen something of the dangers and unreliability of mediumship, antecedent to Miss Cora L. V. Scott becoming my wife; but I had but faint conception of its extent. Separations and divorces were fully discussed between us, and the consummation of our nuptials was made conditional, that no subsequent events should ever absolve the union. We mutually and solemnly pledged ourselves before God and to each other, that our union should be life-long, regardless of all moral and social conditions,--that if either lacked in moral force, the other should, with redoubled energy, seek to make up the deficiency, and reform the offender. Also that we would mutually study the happiness of the other, to the fullest extent of our abilities; errors should be reformed, offenses, if any, atoned for, pardon freely bestowed; believing that by so doing we could [P. 25] reap the richest harvest of conjugal enjoyment. Freely pledged to these conditions our nuptials were consummated. For two years the auroral beauty of the morning sun of peace and happiness shone upon us. No clouds of darkness overshadowed us, no mumbling thunderings of discord greeted our ears. We felt and believed ourselves more than blessed, and each day add new joys to our already happy existence. Alas, it was too great to continue! It was like the quiet repose which precedes the earthquake that smacks its mumbling llips o'er a doomed city. The transition was sudden and complete; and a single hour forever buried our every joy. The black pall of slander trails o'er the corpse of ruined hopes, and the solidified monumnet of disgrace will ere long mark the tomb of blighted vows.
On the morning of the 23rd of July, 1858, I left Mrs. Hatch in Brooklyn, and started for Chicago, Illinois. The 25th she wrote me the following letter:--
Brooklyn, Sunday, July 25, 1858
My Dear Frank:--Doubtless you will expect a letter from me before this reaches you, but when I say sthat physical indisposition has prevented me from writing sooner, I think you will consider it sufficient apology. I am still with Mrs. Taylor, who has treated me with the same motherly tenderness that always characterizes her. I missed you more than I can tell during those hours of pain and suffering, but kindly hands and hearts ministered to my every want. This week I shall be busily employed in sewing, but cannot tell when I shall meet you until I receive a letter from you, which shall indicate the probably length of time it will require for you to complete your business. Mr. and Mrs. Ludden called here last evening; he cannot yet decide whether they will be able to go to Niagra or no. Mr. Sollace, his partner, is better than when he left, and hopes to become convalescent very soon. I suppose you will write me concerning my dear mother and her future prospects. She has suffered much and should be repaid with constant love and attention from her childre, I suppose youo are rusticating in the quiet retreat of Wynnetca [sic]. Please to remember me in all kindness to Dr. and Mrs. Abell. When you call at Mr. Richmond's, present to the family, individually and collectively, my kindest regards. I would like much to see them. 'Tis about one year since we were there, is it not?
I know of nothing that will interest you, not having seen any body or heard any news. I shall probably go to Mr. Ludden's tomorrow and there spend the week; or wait a letter from you to decide upon my future course. I seem to feel the melancholy impression that you will be longer detained than was anticipated. Slow drag the hours away, but I will try and be patient. I shall expect from you a full account of your journey, and hope to get a letter Monday. Write in reply to this if possible. And now, Dear Frank, as I know you abhor lengthy effusions, I will not inflict you with any further remarks. Imagine, my dear, all I would say in conclusion, and believe me as ever, your devoted Cora.
On the 4th of August she again wrote me that she would meet me in Buffalo unless she received from me a telegraphic dispatch to the contrary. I returned the following dispatch--"Remain where you are, and I will be with you to-morrow." I was informed that on receiving this communication she danced with joy that we were so [P. 26] soon to meet. On my arriving in Brooklyn, the 6th of Aug., she was at dinner, and saw me pass the window, and rushed from the basement to the parlor with all possible speed, and for a moment gave me as warm a greeting as ever a husband received from a wife. But an apparent indifference soon followed, and within ninety minutes from that time she informed me that she "Did not wish any longer to remain my wife." I required the reasons for such a declaration. I will here record the dialogue which followed, which, on her part, was carried on in the same prompt and decisive manner which characterizes her before audiences.
Dr. Why, Cora! on what do you predicate such a decision?
Cora. Well, I have three reasons.
Dr. I will hear them.
C. 1st, I cannot sustain sexual relations with you without injury to myself.
Dr. However much I may differ with you in opinion, your person shall be held inviolate to the end of any period of time you may designate.
C. That is all I can ask, and that objection becomes removed.
Dr. What is your second reason?
C. You are closer in your money matters than I wish you were.
Dr. Have I not supplied all your wants?
C. Yes, far more prodigally than I would myself.
Dr. Have I not paid my debts?
C. I do not know that you owe a dollar in the world.
Dr. As I have supplied all you wants, and paid all my bills, what more do you ask?
C. Well, it is the general impression that you are penurious.
Dr. You are aware that any such impression has not grown out of any lack of expenditure, but wholly from our having been successful, in our business, and the envy of unimportant parties. But what is your third reason?
C.--You do not take the interest in my mother that I wish you to.
Dr.--Have I not supplied your mother's wants as far as I know them?
C.--Well, you have assisted her, but she requires a home.
Dr.--And for this end I have diligently labored to procure means that we might all have a home together. your mother has positively refused any liberal donations from me, and has freely expressed her desire that I should retrench my expenses, both upon you and in other ways, and save our means to purchase a residence.
[P. 27] C.--Well, there is no use in discussing the matter--my mind is made up.
Dr.--Are these the reasons you have for breaking up you conjugal relation?
C--They are.
Dr.--To me they are small in the extreme. I could have expected it from you, neither do I believe that the world will justify you in your course.
C.--I think that they are sufficient, and I believe that you will find that the world will so regard them.
Here ended the conversation for that time. I saw her sad condition, and my soul was torn asunder with anguish.
At this time, Mrs. Hatch's most intimate friend, from Buffalo, was in this city, and had spent several days with her during my absence. I enquired of her if Cora had informed her of her determination to absolve her marriage. She informed me that she had not. But, on the contrary, "supposed she was the best satisfied of any woman in the world." The next day Cora accompanied me to new York, where we again met this lady, who then advised her not to leave her husband. I well remember Cora's reply, which was given in much apparent astonishment.--"Leave my husband! I have no such idea nor never had such a thought. It shall never be said of me that I ever left my husband." At intervals she would appear to be her self again, and would come to me with all the ardency and warmth of her former affection; but these grew less, and by the fourth day they had entirely ceased.
No person was ever more completely transformed. Every vestige of the former Cora, in all her affectional and social nature towards me, was gone; and I verily believe that no pleasure would have been greater to her, than to have seen me carved in pieces before her eyes, or torn limb from limb by some infernal machine. That great intensity of her nature which has caused her to be so much admired in her social relations and intellectual efforts, was turned into wrath and vengeance towards me. At a time when she appeared to be the most normal, I inquired if she had any thing against me, or, if I had not always treated her with the utmost kindness, and done all I could for her happiness and prosperity. The following if the reply, which I wrote down at the time:--"No, sir. As a moral man, as a social man, and as an intellectual man, one whose ideas most fully correspond with my own, I have no objection to you, and should be much pleased with your acquaintance and association, and [P. 28] should be as glad to treat you as a lady should treat a gentleman as any man in the world, but as a husband, I hate you."
This separation was so sudden and without visible cause, that a multitude of various conjectures sprang up, and soon took the form of [supposedly?] authentic reports, and thus the vilest calumny was freely circulated in every direction. The rotten hearted and demonized men and women eagerly sought for and absorded these into their own being, as would a Jackall, decaying flesh. Cora knew their falsity, but smiled at their promulgation. i became almost frantic with suffering.
In this condition I first called upon James J. Mapes to aid me in staying my beloved wife in her mad career. I saw hime immediately after having his first interview with her, and he exclaimed: "My God, Hatch, I am more excited than you are! I never saw a woman so perfectly hallucinated in ally my life. There is no reasoning with her. Every argument falls powerless at her feet."
About this time I wrote to Judge Edmonds, informing him of Cora's condition. The following is his reply:
Lake George, August 20, 1858.
Doctor Hatch: I am very sorry, but not surprised to hear of Cora's indisposition.
It is the result of my observations and experience, that mediums for mental manifestations cannot with safety be overworked.
The draft on the vital energies is very great, and unless properly regulated such mediumship is likely to be injurious.
Sometimes it affects the physical health as in the cases of Miss Hardinge and Miss Sweet; and sometimes the moral as in the case of Cora and some others.
Having regarded this as a truth, I have been very careful in that respect with Laura. I have watched closely her condition at [all?] times, and whenever I saw any signs of overworking, I have insisted on her stopping for a week or two at a time, and taking rest and recreation. I have then insisted upon an entire cessation during the warm weather. Hence it is I provided this rest of two months in the country, and thus it is I have preserved her powers and condition unimpaired.
Last Summer my admonition to cease in May was neglected, and importunity of friends yielded to instead. The evil consequences were soon manifest, and I know no exception to the rule.
The remedy in Cora's case is rest, time and recreation. She ought now for at least two months spend her time in pleasant society, in agreeable scenery, and with an entire cessation of all spiritual influence. She will then recover a sound frame of mind.
I shall be in town on Monday next and will be glad to see you, and in conversation enter more into detail than I can do in the limits of a letter. Yours, &c.,
J. W. Edmonds
The day I received the above letter I also saw the Judge, and he then informed me that he had conversed with his spirit friends and they assured him that Cora's condition was the result of an overtaxed brain which weakened her physically, and evil influences had got possession of her, and that he could render me assistance in regaining control of her, and thus remove her from her present [P. 29] surroundings into a quiet retreat in the country. I assured him that while she appeared perfectly sane upon all other subjects there was no argument or persuasion which could reach her in her conjugal relation.
After due deliberation we devised the plan of an "arbitration," simply to induce her to pledge herself, and thus enable me to remove her withouot any arbitrary force. A bond of the most extreme character, to meet her disordered state of mind was drawn up by Mapes, which according to its letter gave them [the arbiters] power to break up my family, confiscate my property, and blast my reputation, and at the same time screened them from any obligation to give any reasons whereof they had decided. J. W. Edmonds, James J. Mapes, and Dr. A. D. Wilson were selected as arbitrators. Whatever the decision might be, it placed her under no obligation which her marriage vows did not cover. This was sthat she might be induced to sign it.
After this sham arbitration had gone on for some two weeks, and I discovered the dishonest manner [in] which they were conducting it, and their evident intention to increase rather than diminish the difficulty, I called upon each of them in person and informed them that I would stay proceedings unless they would pledge their honor that they would be governed by the laws of this State in their decision. Dr. Wilson gave me the required pledge. Mapes went still further, and said that he did not think it expedient for husband and wife to separate, even for adultery. I presume his wife is of the same opinion. Edmonds' statement will appear in the correspondence.
Mrs. H. and myself were not permitted to meet before them, and I was positively denied a copy of her complaint. For nearly two months they sought witnesses, with the pledge to them that I should not be present nor subsequently question them upon what they might testify to. The testimony of one was that I had eighteen months previous refused to furnish a party with an oyster supper; another that he had paid more stage fares for me than I had for him; another, that Mrs. Hatch had called upon her one damp day without rubbers; another, that he had once heard me make a vulgar expression while walking with him. Nothing relevant to the case before them appeared; and I most solemnly affirm that according to my best recollection the above were the strongest proofs before them. These men [the arbitrators] took advantage of Cora's insane condition, and she was induced to meet them in Mapes' private romm, (No. 8 Fourth Avenue) evening after evening, and relate to them all the particulars and minutiae of her nuptial chamber in their most disgusting details. The damning horrors of that affair I have neither disposition, patience, or [p. 30] forbearance to rehearse. And still, I have only such as they related to me, which, doubtless, is only a moity of the reality. Thus I reposed confidence in these men and trusted in their hands the most sacred relation of life, and it blasted and withered beneath their unhallowed and dastardly touch. She was made a victim of their infernal magnetism, and thereby became still more intensified in her purposes of wrong until she was carried beyond anything I could have conceived possible.
At my request, Edmonds invited Cora to accompany him home at the close of one of their meetings; (for I then believed him to have some honor,) she did so, and was entranced the same evening, at his house, and made a speech, since which time he has manifested the greatest malignity towards me. I suppose that Cora knows as little of the nature of the interview as myself. We will pass by the arbitration as one of the dark deeds of a depraved humanity. The revelations of eternity will fully withdraw the curtain which covers its iniquity. Mapes had the principle, if not the entire management of the matter. At last they arrived at the conclusion, which evidently they commenced with, viz: that we must be separated, and so awarded. The following quotation form this wonderful document will unravel the mystery:
"We adjudge and determine that there is now in the hands of the said Benjamin F. Hatch, property and assets of the value of three thousand dollars, all of which is the proper earnings of said Cora, and of right, and according to law, belong to her as her separate property, all of which, however, she freely relinquises to the said B. F. hatch, except the sum of about seven hundred dollars now in the safe keeping of JAMES J. MAPES, which she claims and demands as her won, and we do accordingly award, order and determine, that the said sum of about seven hundred dollars does absolutely belong to her as her separate property, and shall be paid to her to the exclusion of any control over the same by her said husband."
Signed.
J. W. Edmonds,
A. D. Wilson,
Jas. J. Mapes.
I loaned Mapes this money in personal friendship, and on the basis of his having assured me that he was worth fifty thousand dollars, but which I have since learnt is wholly false; and, likewise, that an execution against him is utterly worthless. . . .I had notified Mapes that I should require the full payment immediately, as I desired to [P. 31] take Cora to Europe, in order to remove her from present influences.
. . . .
All the funds I could control I had invested on mortgage for two years, and relied upon this $700 to pay my current expenses. I had divided with Cora to the last dollar, and I could not raise ten dollars from Mapes. Thus I was left wholly without any available means. I have no censure to cast upon Dr. Wilson, for I believe he was honestly duped by Mapes. I called upon Dr. W. for the reasons of his decision, which he declined to give, also upon Mapes, and after some persuasion he made the following statement, to wit:--"One of the two reasons that caused that decision against you was the two letters you published in the Banner of LIght." One announced my belief in obsessions by evil spirits, and the other, wherein I advocated teh sanctity of the marriage institution; fidelity to each other, and that nothing should be allowed to mar its beauty and harmoney--which is not a very pleasing doctrine to Spiritualists--So in this I was a heretic. I then wrote to Edmonds to see if I could get some light upon the subject from that source; and advised him to reconsider his decision. He replied to me by letter, which I publish entire, excepting less than two lines of printed matter, but of such a filthy nature as to be unfit for type, and grew out of their lecherous conversation in the arbitration; but which is wholly false in any spirit of truth.
"Dr. Hatch:--I am not unwilling to state to you my reasons for my decision in the matter of your wife and yourself, nor am I desirous to withhold them from the entire world.
"I could not consent to decide that a young and delicate, and refined female should be compelled to live as a wife with a man who could: First (omitted clause.)
"Second: When his wife had earned some $6,000 or $7,000 in the course of two years, when her husband had not earned one cent, would refuse to trust her with any amount, and thus confiscate to his own use the earning and property which, in fact, belonged to her and not to him--with which he had nothing to do, and which he could not control without a gross breach of confidence on his part.
[P. 32] "This $6,000 or $7,000 was hers and not yours. She entrusted you with it, and you, instead of consulting her wishes, confiscated it to yourself, and appropriated it to your own use. This you had no right to do, and I could not feel myself warranted in trusting you any further with her earnings or her property.
"Third: Who would, from a spirit of penuriousness, deny to his wife the comforts and necessaries of life, when he was dependent upon her and her labors, and not on his own, for his daily bread. But for her you would have starved, and yet you denied her any control over her own. I could not consent to her being subjected to such a course of treatment.
"I have, therefore, nothing to reconsider, but insist that our judgment was right, and no other could have been arrived at by any right-minded man.
"Yours, &c.,
J.W. Edmonds."
NOTE. No "cruel treatment" is here alluded to; a singular fact if her present allegation of personal abuse is true. She did not ever allude to anything of the kind before the arbitrators. A wonderful omission!
This letter was published [by Dr. Hatch] in the New York Tribune, with the following reply:--
To the Editor of the N.Y. Tribune,
Sir: I have felt myself called upon and have been frequently advised to publish the above letter, that the public may have the basis on which this noted Spiritualist pretends to justify himself in being instrumental in separating husband and wife. The letter will need no comment; but a statement of a few facts will be necessary. . . .
It is well known that I married Cora when she was in very indigent and comparatively obscure circumstances, and, by constant, and energetic toil on my part, combined with her own inherent powers, we succeeded in procuring for her no little notoriety. I spared no pains or expense to bring her before the public to the best possible advantage, and in so doing, we were enabled to lay by nearly $3,000 in the "two years." My desire was that, in case I should be taken away, the entire proceeds should be her's [sic]; and, therefore, when we had accumulated $1,000, I purchased a piece of real estate in her name for four thousand and four hundred dollars. paid the $1,000, and gave my individual notes for the balance; and when I visited Chicago in July last (at which time she left me,) it was to make the first payment on these notes. In reference to "not trusting her with any amount," at all times there was in her trunk from $20 to $200, as much at her disposal as mine, which, however, she seldom made any use of, as all her wants were most bountifully supplied. So much for the honorable gentleman's "second" reason.
My "spirit of penuriousness . . ." is as follows: During the two years which I most happily spend with Cora, I paid fourteen hundred dollars for her clothing and jewelry, and there was no want of her's, great or small, made known to me which was ungratified, save one. That was that I should purchase a house for her mother, which i was wholly unable to do, and meet the payment of the notes which I had already given for her. The 22d of July, 1858, which was the day before my departure for Chicago, and the last day I lived with Cora, she went with me to A. D. Stewart & Co.'s. I requested her to call for whatever she desired, and after completing her purchases I asked if there was nothing more. She replied, "No, Frank, I cannot think of any other thing. i believe every want is supplied." My rule was to anticipate her wants as far as possible, and thus supply them before requested to do so. All who know her are aware that she is a walking contradiction to Edmond's "third reason."
. . . . . . . . .
[P. 33] If our nuptial relations had been placed upon the basis of a pecuniary reward, instead of a harmonious and love union, I think that I may reasonably say that I have paid her five times as much as she could have made for herself.
. . . . . . . . . .
That "I had nothing to do with the earnings which all belonged to her," I can only say that I labored more days than she did hours in the accumulation. It was our mutual business; and for the Judge to say that I had no moral or legal right to the "control of the proceeds . . . " shows him to be about as correct in legal matters as he is in his discernment of common justice.
. . . . . . . . . .
Very Truly, B. F. Hatch, M.D.
New York, January, 1859
To the Editor the N.Y. Tribune,
Sir: I cannot consent to have any controversy with Dr. Hatch. He selected me as one of the arbitrators between him and his wife, and it is in no respect through my instrumentality or with my consent that the matter has been brought before the public. He, with your assistance, has done that; and you would hear from me in the matter, if it were not for the fact that the letter from me to him, which you publish, has been so garbled.
[P. 34] I send you a true copy of my letter, that you may see how important a portion he has omitted, and what alterations he has made in it, to suit his own purposes.
I also send you a copy of his letter to which mine was a reply, and a statement of the charges, which we found were established against him. Thus you have the whole matter before you to do with it as you choose.
For my part, I have done with it. No remarks of yours or his can, I think, provoke me to waste another word on the matter.
In the meantime you must allow me to add that I agree with you in the wish that this matter had been kept out of the papers, and that this is one of the many instances in which I have observed the attempt to use Spiritualism for selfish purposes, is sure, first or last, to be attended with disastrous consequences.
New York, Jan. 4, 1859 J. W. Edmonds
To the Editor of the N.Y. Tribune
Sir: . . . [J. W. Edmonds] accuses me of having "garbled" his letter. I published every word of said letter except a brief paragraph, which would have made about two lines of printed matter, and which was of such a filthy character as to forbid its publication.
. . . . . . . . .
[P. 35] Jan. 10, 1859. Very truly, B. F. Hatch, M.D.
This correspondence compelled them, in order to screen themselves from public condemnation, to resort to new measures. . . . Cora in her insane condition was induced to swear to a medley of unimportant and disgusting charges, as a complaint, and this was thrown before the public, as a whaleman throws a hogshead overboard to the deluded whale, which he tried to destroy instead of his real enemy. . . . . Though almost wholly false, stripped of its verbiage and legal technicalities, it [Cora Hatch's complaint] amounts to mere nothing. To show this, I will, item by item, dissect it, and put it in domestic form, still retaining every chargeand idea involved. It has had a general circulation through the public journals; and those who remember it will know that I do it no injustice by this dissection.
1st. "We were married in Attica, N.Y., the 7th of August, 1856. 2d. Since our marriage we have resided in the State of New York. 3d. He has treated me in a the manner the following allegations will show. 4th. He, before marriage [P. 36] over-estimated to me, as I believe, his social position and financial ability. 5th. He has not practised medicine since our marriage, nor made any attempt to do so, but has devoted his attention to the business of my lecturing, and, therefore, has lived upon my earnings. 6th. I have delivered, in this and other states, various lectures, the proceeds of which he has invested, after supplying our wants and giving me $700. He agreed to supply the wants of my mother, but has given her only $10. 7th. He furnished me with old flannel, of coarser material, for undergarments then [sic] I was willing to use, and refused to supply another but the blanket. He supplied me with expensive and showy outward garments, but refused the flannel. 8th. He has, sometimes, refused to provide me with carriages when I desired; and on several occasions he has neglected to provide me with food for me [sic] after I had been delivering lectures. 9th. He has, sometimes, accepted of invitations to visit our friends instead of engaging board, and remained longer than I deemed it proper for him to do. 10th. He has given me pocket money to supply all my actual wants, but no surplus, only on one occasion, and then only $2. He has counted the number of pieces of clothes given out to the laundress, and has neglected to provide me with a home. He introduced me to two gentlemen (Drs. Folsom and Lions) of his acquaintance, who I subsequently believed were of questionable character, but he did not introduce me to any females. 11th. That subsequently to this arbitration he tried to compel me to leave Mr. Wm. A. Ludder's and live somewhere else. He has accosted me in the street since our separation, and used harsh and severe language to me; and he has threatened me with personal violence. He is a large and a strong man, and I am afraid he will inflict some serious injury upon me. He has boasted of his infidelity to his former wife, and of his great powers of seduction. He has been guilty of immoral offences which have damaged my health and delicacy. He has introduced me to a female, and caused me to associate with her, whom I believe is an abandoned character, and he keeps her miniature; and, at other times, he has committed immoralilties, and I do not feel it safe to cohabit with him. And for these reasons I wish to absolve the marital relation, and, therefore, petition the court to aid me in my efforts. CORA L. V. HATCH
If I have any conception of the meaning of language, I have retained each and every idea in her complaint, and I think that Mrs. hatch herself, in reading it in its true form, cannot avoid the blush of mortification at its extreme puerility. . . . No right-minded woman would ever leave her husband on such a basis, were the complaint true. This is not all, it is utterly and entirely false, from its 4th specification to its close, in all its spirit and nearly all its wording. I made no misrepresentations to her before marriage, for there was no necessity of doing so. . . . I totally deny the earnings being more the result of her labors than mine. The mother's needs I have ever expressed a willingness to supply. . . .; but it is wholly false that it was made any condition of Cora lecturing. . . . It has been Cora's ambition to lecture, and I have, with great difficulty, restrained her from speaking [P. 37] when she was unfit to do so. . . .For more than a year I urged the necessity of her putting on flannel skirts, but she refused, stating that she had never worn them at any period of her life. "The blanket" was of the finest domestic manufacture, and was suggested by me, not on the ground of economy but of fitness. When my efforts failed, deeming her unduly exposed, I requested the lady with whom we were stopping, to urge upon her the necessity of warmer clothing beneath her hoops. Without any comment, this lady made Cora two flannel skirts, and requested her to wear them. This is the origin of that much harped-on story, that "her friends were obliged to furnish her with petticoats." . . .No rational person can fail to see the absurdity of this item of her complaint. . . . I have no recollection of ever having denied her a carriage. . . and frequently after leaving the carriage she would walk for pleasure much further than she had rode. I never failed to call for food for her after her lectures. . . . My tarrying with friends was more for her gratification than my own . . . .
. . .Our business was such that we were nearly always together, and for this reason she seldom had any use for money, but always [had?] all that she required. There were at all times from $20, to $200 at her disposal, in her trunk, to which she was repeatedly requested to help herself whenever in need. Traveling rendered it necessary for us to employ laundresses to whom we were strangers, and when Cora had neglected to count the pieces given out, I have done so, only to see that they were returned. Dr. Folsom I have been acquainted with for nine years, and believe him to be a hihg-minded and worthy gentleman of high attainments. Dr. Lions was a casual acquaintance, of most refined address, who imposed upon [i.e., misled] me as well as many of the first families of this city. I [P. 38] introduced her, on our arrival in New York, to as highly respectable females as any with whom she has become acquainted since.
. . . I did attempt to remove her from Mr. Ludder's, and to take her to the Astor Place Hotel, which I believed to be a more fit place for her; but used no other force than to take her by the hand to prevent her from fleeing, and told her that I had come for her. It is wholly untrue that I have ever used any harsh expressions to her at any time whatever, or made any threats of personal violence.
. . . . . . . . .
. . . duty compels me to more fully explain her charge of "accosting her on the street, and using harsh and severe language." On returning one day from Brooklyn, in Nov. last, I met Mrs. Hatch and Mrs. Ludden in the Fulton ferry-house. I told her that I wished to make a proposition to her, which she could accept or refuse; but she declined to listen. I urged the necessity of her hearing it. She passed into the street and called for a policeman, whom I informed that she was my wife, and I only wished to speak to her; and he declined to interfere. After walking together about one block, she consented to lilsten to what I had to say, (viz.,) "Cora, I am aware of your extreme mediumistic and susceptible nature. You associate only with my most bitter enemies. you absorb their feelings and reflect it back upon me. I most fully believe that if you would leave them, your unkind feelings towards me would soon cease. If you would consent to reside in some family, where they are your warmest friends, and not my enemies, I will pay all your bills, and leave you wholly unmolested; and then if you wish to separate from me, I will not appear against any proceedings. But believing as I do that you do not realize what you are about, I should feel myself recreant to duty were I to forsake you." She declined the proposition. Here we parted without my having given her an [P. 39] unpleasant word, and I have not seen her since. It was the only time we have ever met on the street since our separation. It is utterly untrue that I ever boasted either "of infidelity to the former wife, or strong seductive powers, or that I have been guilty of any immoral offences towards her." The "female" to whom she alluded in such disgraceful terms, and whose "miniature" has been in Cora's possession since the day it was received, is a married lady, moving in the first circles of society, and the daughter of one of the first families of our country. Thus, I believe, that I have replied to every idea in her complaint.
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P. 41: I find in my heart no severe censure for Cora. She is a WOMAN, that is saying the best and the worst. But two years [of marriage] has given me to know that inherently, aside from influences brought to bear upon her, she is a true woman. She is young, indiscreet, easily flattered and influenced by those she believes to be her friends, and they have imposed upon her, and more than all she is a medium. She does not realize that these parties are fighting me through her--that they have secured her youthful confidence with any regard to her real interest, and are willing to effect her ruin as well as mine to accomplish their unhallowed purpose.
Again she was induced to swear in her complaint, that during the sixteen months that I managed the business she made $6,000 or $7,000--$400 per month. And then when she sues for alimony she again swears that she can make only about $50 per month, notwithstanding the great increase of her audiences in consequence of the excitement growing out of her application for divorce.
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Her condition is a dangerous one; sensitive to the last degree, and floating among a most lecherous people.
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P. 42: The Arch Fiend has employed faithful servants for his work of moral destruction. Sad victim of a worse delusion--to suppose the work of devils to be that of angels! Recreant to her nuptial vows, she petitions the court to release her from the bonds of matrimony, an audacity seldom equalled. . . . Had she, during my brief absence, acted the part of a prudent wife and avoided her unwarrantable flirtations, promenades, saloon dinners, sherry coblers, and theatres, she would not have been brought under such influences as to cause her to have entered upon her mad career or sought to absolve her union. I mention this only as it is fit that the cause should be known. One sin leads to another. My enemies thus found her an easy victim; and the result is before the world. The blow was sudden, and made far more terrible by the happiness with had preceded it.
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