Seven Wives and Seven Prisons

DETAILED CONTENTS



CHAPTER 1. THE FIRST AND WORST WIFE 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.


CHAPTER II. MISERIES FROM MY SECOND MARRIAGE. Love-Making in

Massachusetts. Arrest for Bigamy. Trial at Northampton. A Stunning

Sentence. Sent to State Prison. Learning the Brush Business. Sharpening

Picks. Prison Fare. In the Hospital. Kind Treatment. Successful

Horse-Shoeing. The Warden my Friend. Efforts for my Release. A Full

Pardon.


CHAPTER III. THE SCHEIMER SENSATION. The Scheimer Family. In Love

With Sarah. Attempt to Elope. How it was Prevented. Second Attempt. A

Midnight Expedition. The Alarm. A Frightful Beating. Escape, Flogging

the Devil out of Sarah. Return to New Jersey. “Boston Yankee.” Plans to

Secure Sarah.


CHAPTER IV. SUCCESS WITH SARAH. Mary Smith as a Confederate. The Plot.

Waiting in the Woods. The Spy Outwitted. Sarah Secured. The Pursuers

Baffled. Night on the Road. Efforts to Get Married. “The Old Offender.”

Married at Last. A Constable after Sarah. He Gives it Up. An Ale Orgie.

Return to “Boston Yankee’s.” A Home in Goshen.


CHAPTER V. HOW THE SCHEIMERS MADE ME SUFFER. Return to Scheimer’s.

Peace, and then Pandemonium. Frightful Family Row. Running for Refuge.

The Gang Again. Arrest at Midnight. Struggle with my Captors. In Jail

Once More. Put in Irons. A Horrible Prison. Breaking Out. The Dungeon.

Sarah’s Baby.. Curious Compromises. Old Scheimer my Jailer. Signing a

Bond. Free Again. Last Words from Sarah.


CHAPTER VI. FREE LIFE AND FISHING. Taking Care of Crazy Men. Carrying

off a Boy. Arrested for Stealing my Own Horse and Buggy. Fishing in Lake

Winnepisiogee. An Odd Landlord. A Woman as Big as a Hogshead. Reducing

the Hogshead to a Barrel. Wonderful Verification of a Dream. Successful

Medical Practice. A Busy Winter in New Hampshire. Blandishments of

Captain Brown. I go to Newark, New Jersey.


CHAPTER VII. WEDDING A WIDOW AND THE CONSEQUENCES. I Marry a Widow.

Six Weeks of Happiness. Confiding a Secret, and the Consequences. The

Widow’s Brother. Sudden Flight from Newark. In Hartford, Conn. My

Wife’s Sister Betrays Me. Trial for Bigamy. Sentenced to Ten Years’

Imprisonment. I Become a “Bobbin Boy.” A Good Friend. Governor Price

Visits me in Prison. He Pardons Me. Ten Years’ Sentence Fulfilled in

Seven Months.


CHAPTER VIII. ON THE KEEN SCENT. Good Resolutions. Enjoying Freedom.

Going After a Crazy Man. The Old Tempter in a New Form. Mary Gordon.

My New “Cousin.” Engaged Again. Visit to the Old Folks at Home. Another

Marriage. Starting for Ohio. Change of Plans. Domestic Quarrels.

Unpleasant Stories about Mary. Bound Over to Keep the Peace. Another

Arrest for Bigamy. A Sudden Flight. Secreted Three Weeks in a Farm

House. Recaptured at Concord. Escaped Once More. Traveling on the

Underground Railroad. In Canada.


CHAPTER IX. MARRYING TWO MILLINERS. Back in Vermont. Fresh Temptations.

Margaret Bradley. Wine and Women. A Mock Marriage in Troy. The False

Certificate. Medicine and Millinery. Eliza Gurnsey. A Spree at Saratoga.

Marrying Another Milliner. Again Arrested for Bigamy. In Jail Eleven

Months. A Tedious Trial. Found Guilty. Appeal to Supreme Court. Trying

to Break Out of Jail. A Governor’s Promise. Second Trial. Sentenced to

Three Years’ Imprisonment.


CHAPTER X. PRISON LIFE IN VERMONT. Entering Prison. The Scythe Snath

Business. Blistered Hands. I Learn Nothing. Threaten to Kill the Shop

Keeper. Locksmithing. Open Rebellion. Six Weeks in the Dungeon. Escape

of a Prisoner. In the Dungeon Again. The Mad Man Hall. He Attempts

to Murder the Deputy. I Save Morey’s Life. Howling in the Black Hole.

Taking Off Hall’s Irons. A Ghastly Spectacle. A Prison Funeral. I am Let

Alone. The Full Term of my Imprisonment.


CHAPTER XI. ON THE TRAMP. The Day of my Deliverance. Out of Clothes.

Sharing with a Beggar. A Good Friend. Tramping Through the Snow. Weary

Walks. Trusting to Luck. Comfort at Concord. At Meredith Bridge. The

Blaisdells. Last of the “Blossom” Business. Making Money at Portsmouth.

Revisiting Windsor. An Astonished Warden. Making Friends of Enemies.

Inspecting the Prison. Going to Port Jervis.


CHAPTER XII. ATTEMPT TO KIDNAP SARAH SCHEIMER’S BOY. Starting to See

Sarah. The Long Separation. What I Learned About Her. Her Drunken

Husband. Change of Plan. A Suddenly-Formed Scheme. I Find Sarah’s Son.

The First Interview. Resolve to Kidnap the Boy. Remonstrance of my Son

Henry. The Attempt. A Desperate Struggle. The Rescue. Arrest of Henry.

My Flight into Pennsylvania. Sending Assistance to my Son. Return to

Port Jervis. Bailing Henry. His Return to Belvidere. He is Bound Over to

be Tried for Kidnapping. My folly.


CHAPTER XIII. ANOTHER WIDOW. Waiting for the Verdict. My Son Sent to

State Prison. What Sarah Would Have Done. Interview with my First Wife.

Help for Henry. The Biddeford Widow. Her Effort to Marry Me. Our Visit

to Boston. A Warning. A Generous Gift. Henry Pardoned. Close of the

Scheimer Account. Visit to Ontario County. My Rich Cousins. What Might

Have Been. My Birthplace Revisited.


CHAPTER XIV. MY SON TRIES TO MURDER ME. Settling Down in Maine. Henry’s

Health. Tour Through the South. Secession Times. December in New

Orleans. Up the Mississippi. Leaving Henry in Massachusetts. Back in

Maine Again. Return to Boston, Profitable Horse-Trading. Plenty of

Money. My First Wife’s Children. How they Have Been Brought Up. A

Barefaced Robbery. Attempt to Blackmail Me. My Son Tries to Rob and Kill

Me. My Rescue Last of the Young Man.


CHAPTER XV. A TRUE WIFE AND HOME AT LAST. Where Were All my Wives? Sense

of Security. An Imprudent Acquaintance. Moving from Maine. My Property

in Rensselaer County. How I Lived. Selling a Recipe. About Buying a

Carpet. Nineteen Lawsuits. Sudden Departure for the West. A Vagabond

Life for Two Years. Life in California. Return to the East. Divorce from

any First Wife. A Genuine Marriage. My Farm. Home at Last.