HER STRANGE LOVE. PRETTY CAUCASIAN WEDS A SON OF HAM. I*l»ey llltMinnc'il Her ami Then ller II in- j Imixl l)in«*rteil Her Thi* I 'rum I End oJ Kuril AITiilrn, Illed In DMionor and I’o%y, which result ed In their mar riage, will always he a mystery. For the wedded life of this Ill-mated couple came to an end eight months after their wedding day by the death of the young wife. And 1n those months, though her husband abused and neglected her, not a word of complaint or reproach ever passed hpr lips. To crown all tills, her hits- , hand, although now a fugitive from , Justice, has made formal claim to his j wife’s share In her father’s estate, j which he says is about |2f<,000. The | beginning of this strange story of the j marriage of a young, cultured white girl, only 38 years old, tho (laughter j of wealthy people, to an Ignorant col ored boy, whose only thoughts In life were for horses and crap-shooting, goes as far back ns Miranda Foote's childhood, when she received a fall, from the effects of which she never re covered. This put her av.ay from the usual sports and plays of a country child, and her chief delight was to L bring music from the organ which stood In the sitting-room of the old farmhouse. She went to the district school with her brothers and sisters, and though the received a good com mon school education, th*re was no greater pleasure for her than taking her music lesson and practicing scales and exercises. On account of her deli cate health little or nothing was ex pected of the child about tlie house, and as she grew to womanhood the duties which usually fall to a farmer's daughter were either performed by her mother or sisters, and In every way Miranda's life was a sheltered one. Stronghurst, the birthplace of Miran da Foote, Is a small village about thir ty miles from Galesburg, 111. I-ong be fore the village was there the Foote family was known for their wealth. Years ago R. F. Foote came to Illinois and purchased a few acres two miles from what is known now as the vil lage of Stronghurst. As time went by and he was a successful stock raiser, he added to his land, and when he died several years ago this h;# increased until the estate embraced some 400 acres. The small wooden house with which 1he Foote family had been content In the early days had long since been replaced by a big rough stone dwelling, which Is known far and wide in the country around about as the stone house. Long before tile death of Mr. Foote his self-earned fortune was placed at $200,000, and as some of the younger children were far from of age the property was to be intact un til the girls and boys had grown to manhood and womanhood. Rut Mr. Foote was not a greater money-maker than his wife, in whose management his fortune was left. Soon after his death she added the breeding of race horses to that of the other stock rais ing upon the farm. All the country around and about Galesburg Is famed for its fine stock, but no horses for miles about are more famed than those raised by the mistress of the stone house. John Crawford went to the stone house last April to help in the care of these horses. From the time of his birth, a quarter of a century JOHN CRAWI-ORO. ago. b# hod tia>n on* of *h# familiar ilarbin* t»f Oaloaloirp 1'iowfonl *i«w to iii.itibmnl iluim wbai bn lihnl moat. In hauit arnuutl Harry »talil*a or any piain *lt« a bar* !hii«*« a*r<* ho|tt lla ilk! ant < >rn for »« h.»«t Imt of mu •li bn wan lobtl. «»«1 from hla hoy bh •lay a al»ay» it*l* to |'*i Wat Iba iwaipta a bo ba*a «f M '*a*!» « !«*» of aioak ml b»*t>l bar pt«y ywtai aa4 burnt* M'OoUi »b*l *>»« !*» y**r •a uf imi on oo iba *b**«r »M t-t a la lb* 1*1*1* Rapt la* >h*r*h f**i pur* Ibai lb* b*«o! of tympitky b*. tween the two was the natural love that each hail for harmony. Early In June John went to Galesburg, anil to a few of his nearest companions con filled that he was going to bring a white girl homo to them. It did not appear to confound him that he had no other home than that of his uncle. This would all be overcome, he an swered them, for the girl hail "lots ot money.” One dark night Miranda Foote ran away, and her family did not realize that she had gone until she was bound for life to "China” Craw ford. The girl must have planned her eaeape for days beforehand, for sh» gathered all her wardrobe and threw It from the window, from which sh' herself went out. "China" was wait ing near, and they drove rapidly to Galesburg, where he had assured her lie could gain a good living for her. it was not long before the girl was missed anil her family fearpil she had wandered from the house and had Ire come faint. Her brothers and sisters searched for her throughout the entire night. Hut before they heard of her again she had become the mulatto boy’s wife. Justice II. F. Holcomb joined the lives of this colored stable boy and the white girl, and he fought as earnestly against it as he did long years ago for the freedom of the ne groes. He begged her to take time to consider, and when she insisted that the marriage should take place at once, he told her as far as her family and friends were concerned her life was at tin end. He told her plainly and simply that, come what might, she must remember that she was John Crawford’s wife, und that nowhere else In life was there a place for her hut at his side. But “China" did not ' m/r-.i MRS. JOHN CRAWFORD, spend much time by her side. He still kept unbroken bis record as a ‘'crap shooter.” He did not make much money and the poor girl would often have gone hungry if it had not beer for the goodness of “China's” relative! and friends. For weeks her people seemed to forsake her. Then Mrs Foote wrote that she was ready to take Miranda back if she would come alone, This the girl refused. After another interval one of the older daughter! wrote that the mother was ill. Sh< begged of Miranda if she wanted to He» her mother alive to come, and come at once. The girl went. This plea she could not withstand, and though Mrs Foote was a sick woman, she was riot in such a dangerous condition as the letter seemed to indicate. At the ent of two weeks the girl ran away for tin second time. All she took with liet she wore, dressed In a calico wrapper a cheap little hat and a cape for hei shoulders. She went back to her blaeX husband and her dull life. But nol for long. The hardships that she had to bear broke her down. She died or November X. For a few hours Johr insisted that his white wife should be buried where and when ho chose. Bui the girl's mother took her dead child back to the place of her birth and site was buried from the big stone house Six days after his white wife's death “China” was arrested with a lot of oth ers In a gaming room. But his good luck did not here desert him. On the way to the station he escaped from the police. l.ast week he asked the cir cuit court at Galesburg to appoint ar administrator for the estate of Mirnn .1.. 11„ ..i„ i. i_. entitled, as her husband, to a third ol the property left by her. And he in sists that her share of her father's es tate Is in the neighborhood of $2!i,000. The sixty days allowed after death by the court had elapsed before “China’ was aware that he was entitled by law to a pari of his wife's father's money. After lit* crap-shooting escapade end ed he hid himself for some time on u farm In McDonough county. He tulk ed often of his white wife and her rich connections. He was aanurnd that a part of this wealth should descend to him. and he has made the first steji to untullc It. llAMaeH S “t lustl I taMU.” Dawson •* 'he "flushom" of all th*' “flush ' towns in htatory. It Is hard ly n««e*sary to repeat the many stories that have gone out about the new an I greater California. Many of the tab's tea. hava been ex unset at tons In Indi vidual instances, t-ut they hardly (sir tray the reality At the dance ball) sod *atoons, where men mostly , on (revate gold stands In rows of tam Met* behind th" bars. In the safe «! the North t Merles a Trunaportatloa and 'trading t'ornpagy Sun* ounces si b-ft over dual la stored. Hut with all tha' has teen tnhen out the minea are nut really st work vet. Hardly one twentieth «f any claim boa been eg hauelad Must** la s l si'« fan. there are ill** limea as many Wusc tea m the tail of a cm aa there die >n Ik- house hint and «rtaf. la at'caom a-’fatra tha dlyoaeg la ate ms a the nleeat ,sit {THEATRICAL TOPICS. CURRENT NEWS AND COSSIP OF THE STAGE. I'lnrrn'H \c\v I’lay. ‘Trelawney of llie Well*" Home Aihlrr 1o Young IVr »<>n» Who Are Thinking of Adopting tlte Stage AYhen Ctoofl W i n \Ya* Y'onng. K dramatic critic of i ho Westminster Gazette has this to Hay of Trelawney of the Wells. Pin ero’s new comedy recently produced In Condon: “Roh ertson tip to date— that seems a phrase in which one may give a fairly accur ate Idea of the new Pinero play. Yet the resemblance between this piece and those of the Robertson school is not more striking than the unllkeness to them shown by It. The resemblance Is In conception, the unllkeness In ex ecution. in technique, ‘Trelawney of the Wells' Is essentially modern, hut no doubt, the technique of the author of ‘Caste’ if he had lived in 1898. and been acquainted with the Ibsen plays which have modified the methods of all our serious dramatists, would have been as different from that which he actually showed as that of ‘Trelawney of the Wells’ from school. Perhaps I should not he speaking of Robertson so much, hut for the fact that the hero of the play, or at least the heroic fig ure, Tom Wrench, obviously is in tended to suggest Robertson the dra matist and actor In his days of strug gle.” Young persons who think of adopt ing the stage should never forget that real success is that calling demands ceaseless and merclles toll. The '’cham pagne and the fun” that one young girl, in a letter to a manager, said she liked, do not usually fall to the lot of MAY IIOSMER serious, hardworking members of the theatrical calling, but rather to the in | significant, fleeting pets of the hour, ! the comic opera or burlesque queens, whose reign ends the moment they have become a trifle passe. The difficulty is for a young man or woman to be con vinced that he or she does not possess special fitness. Unfortunately, many of these young people are ill-advised by enthusiastic friends, and their van ity passes the suppression point until they get into the actual arena of the stage, where the cruel truth chills their mercurial ambition; and they retire, overcome with shame and chagrin. Nat Goodwin, when he was very I l 4 x \ NKI4.IK lilHNKY yutiM *»•! vary unruly. tn * 1 «iu> b tHtuiiutny. injtja*»U by »u uht a* 1 tur nam* I 1**»>I »b«t *ru*a hi* «>*" Plata a«** »u Ik* Mali an I ***>n4 ll *tilr* **mu i«»y nw«U |*Rlb M», *bab »« bia 8u**r a( Ik* pl*>t4 N alba Mai >■**» imi* mn! haaJa-41 fa | |w« «««r ib*«*. hn a «li >«r*ailantt<|iics " ti *Msh fun la made of the kind of Am crtean women who ar* anxious to mar ry title*. *v*n If they have to pay east I for them A London newspaper coir* • iw.ndent say* of !«: **|t |* hardly to Is expected that sue h a subjec t thus (real fd by n frenchman will be wanting it portrayal of tm*rtr*u blunt nr** an the general loudness aaauc tntsd by Ku ropes Its With I be \HKMcsH The act thor due* not Indeed, spare the Alter I enu In tbl* rumpnruliv* «arrival or* Nil tMdb of math* and good hum e hut the coiuiwr.se>n mad* la nut alnat j to the advantage of the french. Thi piny is n r*at play. It ha* * rent charm It la Nil uf life crowded with person age*, well *»*g*d and highly ««iun REVIVES OLD MURDER. RltPORTER SEEKS TO FREE A LIFE PRISONER. lor Mittixy ArrfMlnl for » Killing Coin mittcil Mm- Yr^rn .\1 1 Wheeler, a reporter on a Iterator pa 1 tier. i|n Med that a« no one eUe >mi ! n| likely to do anything for Fuutu 1 lie would He did thU ultuplt baton* I he I telle vet! Failure waa lanut en faunee had ne*er been •nvthlrt* I hint. He barely knew Fount* Ireful the loiter waa *e«t to the penitentiary Mr Wheeler got aogie of the pa pet 1 and letter* that had been prepare when the hrel atepe to getting a pet dun were taken In 1**1 He line low it the eturlen that person* had *wel Mtmeone feeettle# Fount* tom mil th murder He wrote letter*. |nl**«t»«*< i attorn***, gut affidavit*, prepared th applbnttun fur a pardon gut up a pe I It lea and pul the eaa* before the boat of parduna Thta all »uwfc a great d** of bla tint# and hta numef hut he *pea | both freely, all without help from any one, be*-auge the friends of Faunee had neither money nor ability to help. Tho application for a pardon was presented to the state on Thursday, Jan. 13, 1898. Then the case that had bel li made cut in favor of Faunee was made public. The result was a de , in and fur an investigation and a more pronounced expression of opinion by Decatur people that Faunee was Inno cent. Accompanying the application for pardon were affidavits showing that Mauzy and not Faunee committed the murder, a history of the case showing the character of the evidence against Faunee at the trial, letters from well known citizens asking that Faunee be pardoned and a petition signed by ISO ; citizens declaring that they believed i Faunee innocent and asking that he bo released from prison. One of the affidavits was by Mrs. Rebecca Smith, who swore that sbo saw the murder committed and that she saw Faunee afterward and knows he did not shoot. McKinley. She also swore that Mrs. Oliphant, the woman who at the trial swore that Faunee shot McKinley, was not present at all. Another affidavit was by Mrs. Alfred Showers, who at the time of the murder wan thirteen years old. She said she was within less than half a block of the place of tho murder when she heard a shot. She saw a man running from the place and saw him throw a revolver In the air. Tliut man was Joe Mauzy. With two others who were with her she went home and told her mother what lliey had seen and the mother told them to keep still about It or they would be dragged into the case as witnesses. I.aura Wiusen, a sister of Mrs. Show erg. who was with Mrs. Showers on tho of the murder, made affidavit y i ! JOB MAUZY. that the statement of Mrs. Showers > was true and that it was not Faunce that they saw running from the place. There were other afildavits tending t to show that Faunce was innocent and I in which the name of Mauzy was men 1 tioned, but some of these have already been opposed by statements tending to - disprove them. Among the letters was one from , Judge Hughes, of Mattoon, who presid i cd at the trial of Faunce. He said the evidence against Faunce was circum ) stantial, except that Mrs. Ollphant, t a woman of bad repute, swore that she j saw Faunce shoot McKinley. He said Faunce had a fair trial, was well de - fended and he could not say that there s was more than a possibility of the in t nocence of Faunce. State’s Attorney Isa? c R. Mills was i not asked for a letter, hut one that - he wrote Faunce on Aug. 14, 1895, was i presented. In it he said he had inves - tigated rumors that Mauzy was the e murderer and had always concluded 3 that Mauzy was not, hut that Faunce 3 was. 3ie said: "I have always been - Inclined to the opinion that it was his t (Mauzy’s) revolver with which the shot - was fired, hut I also am Inclined to the - belief that you had it- borrowe.d from i him for use as a watchman.” The state's • attorney concludes: “There is a possi f bility of your innocence.” Two weeks after the evidence and letters were presented to the board ot pardons, and before it had taken ac tion the Macon county grand jury took up tho investigation of the case and concluded by returning an Indictment charging Joe Mauzy with the murder fnt* which 1’iLiincc w.iu .vurvlm/ a 1if*» sentence. Mauzy was arrested at hi* home on a farm near Oakland, 111., and brought to Decatur and locked up In Jail. He declares that he Is Innocent, f State's Attorney Mills, who was state'* t attorney when Faunce was convicted, has asked that friends of Faunce up 1 point an attorney to assist In the prose cution of Matity. A letter has been re ceived from President ft. A, Lemon, of; the state board of pardons, that the de cision of the bounl on the application for Fauuce a pardon lias been deferred until the April meeting of the hoard. That will !m> after the trial of Mauzy, which Is expected to come up soon. Mat McKinley, for whose murder ' Fauuce Is In prison, was a voting man of good character. The night of *h* ’ j murder he was going home .About a ! block from the courthouse he heard two women across the street cry out. as if for protect Ion front a man who scented to be following them McKin ley groesed over, I old the min to de •tat front annoving the women and was •b-.t. dying tastsutiy. One of tb* w<>nien was Mrs titnlth, who now sayw that the man who did the shooting was not Fan me, Fsume was arrested threw hours later wh.le ploying pt*»i in a saioott. the Ogiut, f'tietowsr ' t bought a piaster i f three w«*h» ago to help tn« get vtd >. the I'llshoi' iMug t'telh ' ¥**. I remember It. iHiin I it do the each * Fust Miner tifc ye* bat I a ia« something now that wilt h*«p « , to gar ltd of the piaater