A STRANGE STORY. Reappearance of a Long-Lost Husband.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 243, 25 February 1888, Page 7

A STRANGE STORY. Reappearance of a Long-Lost Husband.

Fourteen years ago a young and handsome seaman met at a dance given by his friends ! a lady blonde and pretcy, whom be wooed and won as his bride. 1 A comfortable little home at North Beach was furnished, and after a brief honeymoon the bridegroom returned to his post of duty. Ho was employed as chief i mate on board of a vessel trading between San Francisco and Portland, Or. The vessel made regular trips, and upon each recurrent day of hez* arrival the young wife was on the wharf awaiting her husband. I Together they would go to their little i home, and enjoy each other's company during the interval elapsing between the vessel's arrival and departure^ For three years this domestic felicity endured, and their union was blessed with a lovely flaxen-haired little girl. During this time the chief mate had been promoted, and became entitled to be saluted as Captain Robert Edmunds. One sailing day the Captain bade adieu to his wife and left on his journey to the Webfoot State. The day for his ship's arrival in port came round, but no sign of the vessel appeared. With womanly patience the wife waited until toward the evening, when a ring at the house-door summoned her. There she found a messenger boy bearing that yellow envelope that so often covers a message of lite or death, hope or despair. With misgivings and tear-bedim mcd eyes she tore open the despatch and read : " Your husband and crew of the vessel lost at sea." The shock to her nervous system was great, and for many days she hovered between life and death. Time elapsed, and still the young wife, hoping against hope, waited for the ship that never, retm*ned. Her sombre widow's garb set off her attractive face, and many were the suitors that proposed marriage. Time, that conquers all grief, at length asserted its sway, and one fine day, after a three - years' widowhood, Mrs Edmunds consented to change her name to that of Mrs Schultz. Eight years passed by, bringing this story to the present period. The festitives of the new year were in progress at the Schultz residence, when they were suddenly interrupted by a rude shock. This occurrence was the appearance at the house of Captain Edmunds in the sound and solid flesh. No seaweed tangled his locks, neither were his garments in any way indicative of a long sojourn under the sea. There in the doorway stood husband No. 1, and confronting him like one in a dream stood Mrs Schultz. ; Recognition was mutual, although time had silvered the Captain's locks and his face was somewhat bronzed, while his erstwhile wife, beyond looking somewhat more matronly than before, had scarcely changed in appearance. After introdncing husband No. 1 to husband No. 2 the hidy retired to cogitate upon her fate. Beyond learning that Captain Edmunds had been rescued from a watery grave by a vessol bound from British Columbia to Europe, and that upon his return to the I United States he went back to Orego», j settled on some timber lands, and after i many years acquired a large fortune, which | he now enjoys, the wife could glean nothing from Mr Schutiz as to what passed at the interview. Loud and angry words were exchanged, and Captain Edmunds left the house swearing to pave his wife again. Mrs Schultz first was inclined to go back i to her maiden choice, but the thought of her four children by her second marriage deterred her from taking the step. She wrote to Sacramen, to where Captain Edmunds is visiting some relatives, offering to le t fc his daughter, who is now nearly thirteen years of age, go to him, and beg; ging him"~for the sSke of their .old lbve to forget and forgive jail tbafc liaH .passed. Up to the present time Mrs Schultz has received no reply to her letter. Legal authorities consulted by Mrs- Schultz are of the opinion that Captain Edmunds has, by reason of his long absence, forfeited any pretension or claim to resume marital relations with his first love, -~ u San Franciscb Chronicle."