The sunny South. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1875-1907, June 01, 1878, Image 8

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TheWandering Jewess Etta Libschitz’s Search for Her Faithless Husband. SIXTEEN YEARS OF MISERY. The Strange Romance Narrated in Essex Market Court. To those who heard the affidavit of Etta Libschiti road in the Eesex Market Police Court last week, in which she charged William Eachs with aban donment, .there was nothing to indicate that un der the bald formulas of the complaint lay the material of a romance as strange as any that graces the pages of fiction. The intense earnestness of the eomplainant’s appeal to the Court and her display of mental excitement, which at length found rent in hysteria, may hare .excited a tem- porary interest; but only when the case was sifted it was learned from the complainant that this for eign, haggard looking woman’s appearance before a New York magistrate was a chapter of an event ful history that began sixteen years ago in aPrus- so-Polish village. As she narrates it, there is a tele of love, blighted in it* beginning, and suc ceeded by a religious dread of evil she had not herself invoked, but which constantly oppressed her and made her endure toils such as lew wo men coaid essay. Hidden away in an obscure province of Prus sian Poland, known as Kamnitz-Podolsk, is the Tillage of Heisen, where her parents resided. Their name was Blettermann, and they were hon est,thrifty people, noted perhaps for little but their profound attachment to the Jewish faith and its traditions. Heisen is a quiet, primitive place,from which old time beliefs and usages have not been crowded by modern thought, and in which inno vation is deemed little less than sacrilege. J ne customs of centuries ago accordingly prevail, and it was judged only their duty by the liletterman s to admit to their home one day a poor student who came there seeking his fortune, so to speak. He had been an orphan from infancy, bad been jostled about by the world all his lite, but being possessed of considerable tact and good native talents had managed to pick up a fair smattering information, and in Hebrew learning was a mar vel for his years. The simple Blettermans were delighted above all things tc find a boy of a dozen summers able to read the Mosaic law and discourse profoundly about it, so they made him a member of their household forthwith, and were every soul of them convinced that there were the makings of a great man in their protege. Aaron Libschnz that was his name—did nothing to lose their good opinion, and it waB not long belore they offered him their daughter Etta in marriage. JOINED IN WEDLOCK. She, for her part, was quite infatuated with the young man, so their nuptials were satisfac torily arranged and were celebrated, she says, on the 18th of July, 1801, in the village of Hei sen. There they resided together for about six weeks, when one day Aaron in speaking of their future prospects proposed that they should go together to the abode of some relatives of his wife who were possessed of ample means and would not scruple-giving him assistance. She agreed. Then he gathered up whatever valua bles they had, secured them and the family pa pers—among them the matrimonial certificate—- upon his person, and they set out together. At evening the drosky they were travelling in, drew up at a station on the road and Aaron helped Etta out, attended to her bodily comforts, told her he wa6 going to look after some business but would be back presently, and hurried away. Evening deepened into night but Libschitz did not appear, and when another day passed his waiting wife awakened to the realization of the truth and dragged herself to her parent’s home, a broken hearted and deserted woman. A while she lived there, nursing her grief and vainly looking for news from him, and then a sudden resolution seized her and she left her native village to seek for her absent husband over the world. THE JEW OF IVANOFKA. About this time there resided in the district of Ivanofka, in Russia, a landed gentleman named Wassail Nicholovitz Balazel, who lorded it over a large domain and a numerous serf ten antry. Wassail was not very paternal in his government, but he was strong in his personal likings and it was his pleasure at times to ele vate some of his dependents to positions of trust in the province. Above all things he detested the Jewish abiders in the neighborhood and he was very much gratified to come upon a very gifted youth among them, a stranger in the place, who was willing to accept his favors and obey his behests, even to the renunciation of his faith. The Russian proselytizer was in rap tures when his clever protege publicly gave ov er Judaism, entered the Greek Church and adopted the name of Alexander Wassail, in hon or of his patron and godfather, Positions of advantage were given him, and he made good use of them. So it came about that in the year 1868 the young apostate was postmaster of all the districts of Ivanofka. It was one Sabbath evening in the autumn of that year that the keeper of a subordinate station, saw upon the road without a young woman, haggard and worn and soil with toil and travel. He invited her inside, and while preparing to despatch his postboys to the chief village of Ivanofka he in quired what motive one so delicate had to jour ney about as she did, and what trouble was it that seemed to oppress her. The woman un bosomed herself to the kindly station keeper and a couple of his assistants, and when she had told them how years before she was abandoned by her husband and had since travelled alone over all Poland and a part of Russia in quest of him, they pursued their inquiries and asked her more about the man. She described him minutely, and the keeper suddenly awoke to the conviction that Aaron* Libschitz, the poor wayfarer’s runaway husband, was no other than his own superior, Alexander Wassail, the apos tate Jew of Ivanofka. THE POSTMASTEE’S WIFE. The postboys »nd underliDgs at the station had heard the woman’s story and the deduc tions drawn from it, and, as persons of their station are apt to do, bore the news to the chief postmaster’s ears that very night. If he was taken aback at the information he did not show it, but sent to the station keeper a letter which is still preserved and of which this is the trans lation:— To My Highly Esteemed Abram Alexandrovitch:— Be you so good as to speedily send me my wile who stays with you. 1 have been waiting for her with impatience. The postmaster’s name was appended to this, and the station-keeper honored it by at once send ing the desolate Etta to him. There are those living in the place who saw the meeting between them—the woman happy, tender und hopeful ; the man calm, cold anil saturnine. He admitted his relationship ; but as he had ceased to profess Judaism he knew there was a barrier between them which would force the daughter of the pious Blettermanns to seek a divorce according to their law. t he did so when she saw herself slighted and turned away by the man she had come so far to see, and the Hebiew residents added their soli citations to the request of the broken and dis heartened woman. Aaron, or Alexander, as he waa now called, asked for time to consult his pat- During their discussions the Doctors differed frequently; there was much non-concurrence, but all finally resolved into harmonious measures, that moved without friction. Doctor Sargent, of Baltimore, impressed us much with his appearance, being nearly four score years. His closing life reminds us of a gentle sunset in a summer sky, after the heat and dust of the day has subsided. The cares, joys and sorrows of life are nearly over with him. How the vir tues of a pare life are reflected in his peaceful face. The sparkling wit of brother Winfield, from Hot Springs, Arkansas, has left a pleasant echo with us. His constant effervescing spirits have added much to the harmony of many important move ments. The lay delegation was well represented. Some of them talked a great deal; their powers of lo quacity were fully exercised, while others had nothing to say, but always voted right. The Lone Star State was equal to any emergen cy. She is proud of her prosperity, and also of her strength in the Methodist Churoh. Where is to be found another brother Winoh ? He is a lion in size and strength, and what a voice! None could say, Mr. President! with the same startling effect. Farewell dear brothers t May the great Bishop of souls keep your hearts and minds pure daring your stay here below, and finally give yon a bless ed and peaceful rest beyond the swellings of the Jordan. A Visitob. A Few Words about Giants. BT SAMCBL LEW. First Methodist Church of Atlanta, Ga., where the General Conference was held. ron, and meanwhile promised that he would go to the city of Bachmoot, in the province of Katrin- aschlava, in the latter part of October, for the purpose of according the woman a divorce accord ing to the Hebrew custom. Thither his deserted wifi wended her way and there sought the hospi tality of people of her faith till Alexander’s com ing. The provincial nobleman, in whose service the postmaster was, had too deep an aversion to the Jews, however, to allow his favorite to have anything to do with them. So he forbade his tak ing part in any ceremony with his Hebrew wife, and advised him to let her go her way unnoticed. “ nE COMETH NOT. This explains why Etta was furnished with the following certificate, which the Russian Consul pronounces authentic:— I, the undersigned, testify that the bearer Etta i “““ L !'' u ! ,u . ’ j . tv. J ,, caught steH oi him, however, and with a cry hur- m my presence and together with me in the month - ® ’ • - - - s of October, 1868, have searched in Lower Iva- notka, where dwells a converted Jew, Alexander Wassan Libschitz, who, after many denials, con fesses Etta to be his lawful wife, and that he is England and took ship for this city. She began inquiries here at once but failed for a time to get any clew to Aaron’s whereabouts, till an old man attached to a synagogue in East Broadway and well versed in Hebrew lore, remembered that a man who once applied to him for instructions and made most miraculous progress, had confided to him that his real name was Libschitz. Through this Etta was enabled to learn that her husband was living on Third street under the name of Sachs and that he had married a German Jewess and was the father of two children. To his home the woman went, determined to meet him face to face. There she met his last wife and of her in quired for hirn. Sachs was at home, but the news that ^jaggard, wornout Hebrew woman was waiting* .0 see him awakened his suspicion and he triei’lto slip down stairs unperccived. She ready, according to the custom of the Hebrew dogma, to give her an absolute divorce. But his godfather, a provincial nobleman, Wassail Nich- lovitch Balazel, on whom he depends, prevented his fulfilling this ceremy; so he, in pity, neverthe less, made this engagement that he would meet her in the city of Bachmoot, and give her the divorce. But, although he sent dispatches that he was coming, he has not appeared to fulfil his promise, on account of which Etta leaves Bach moot in sore disappointment. To all this, she re ceives this certificate from me. Judah Isbaelovitch Danidovitch, Citizen of Bachmoot. So the forlorn woman was forced to journey to her native village, dispirited and with the bond which united her to the renegade still unbroken. For his part, he continued to prosper under the protection of his patron, and before long he mar ried a Christian woman, a servant in the latter’s household, which still further gained him the confidence of the wealthy Balazel. But in spite of all this the postmaster was not contented. His apostacy was known all through the province, and while his Russian associates slighted him on ac count of hio extraction, his own people despised him for his renunciation of their faith. His ear ly teachings, too, began to recur to him, and the reproaches he received from such as dare utter them stung him sorely. One day he gathered up his wife’s effects and his own, collected what money he could and fled secretly from the pro vince. The Christian woman he had abandoned complained, Wassail Nichlovitch Balazel stormed, and there was a great hue and cry for the fugitive, but Alexander Wassail appeared no more in Ivan ofka. searching a continent. Meantime Etta Libschitz lived with her parents, but consciousness of her still being the wife of the apostate tormented her. The Jewish ceremo ny of divorce had not been performed and a reli gious fear of the consequences of her union op pressed her and led her from her home again, re solved to seek out Aaron and insist on the obser vance of the rite. At Ivanotka she heard of his disappearance, and, disheartened, but not defeat ed in her purpose, she began her wanderings in quest of him anew. All over Poland and a great part of Piussia did the woman travel, at times without means, and with nothing but the charity of her people to depend on. Then further south she went until her quest was carried into the very streets of the fallen capital of her race— Jerusalem, But all was of no avail, and, after many years of fruitless wandering, Etta found herself again at the village in Ivanofka, where her husband had once been. They had news for her there. A letter had come to them from New York—from Alexander Wassail himself, now Aaron Libschitz once again. He had begged them all to forgive the scandal of apostacy, stated that hejhad returned to Judaism and had read the law in the synagogue. At once the injured wife determined to cross the sea after him and in the far away land demand a fulfillment of his duties toward her. From the resident Jews of Ivanofka, who knew the circumstances of her marriage, de sertion and meeting with the postmaster, she se cured letters vouching for the authenticity of her story, and she had other credentials from the rab binical heads of the province, recommending her to the good offices of people of their faith all over the world and especially in New York. THE QUEST IN NEW YORK. Armed with these, she left Russia, traveled to ried after him. But the recognition lent wings to Sachs’ feet; he jumped into a car, hurried away and packed off that night to Cincinnati, where he stayed three months. On his return Counsellor Isaac L. Sink, who had been apprised of the woman’s trials, had him arrested on a charge of abandonment, and in that way the case came before the public. At the court a very painful scene occurred when prison er and complainant were brought face to face be fore Judge Otterbourg. On being asked if that was her husband she became quite excited, beat her temples and breast as though invoking God to witness to the truth, and at length was carried off in a swoon. The defense's story will appear at the examina tion, when the papers certifying the truth of the complainant’s narrative will be produced. Sachs, it is said, admits that he knew the woman in Po land, but holds that their marriage was not a legal one, and was celebrated only in accordance with a sportive custom common to the peasantry of the country. CONFERENCE NOTES CON TINUED. What has been Accomplished— Concluding Services—Fare wells, Etc. The General Conference has closed, and the brethren left us with their benediction. During their stay all the citizens appeared to vie with each other in trying to make them hap py, aud last of all Mrs. Colquitt gave them a re ception at the gubernatorial mansion. It has never been our privilege to see so large a body of dis tinguished Christian ministers collected together enjoying the recreation of social intercourse. They were all unanimous in the conclusion that they had been entertained during their stay in Atlanta in a most hospitable and courteous man ner, in lov*ily homes among warm-hearted, loving people. _ In their deliberations ecclesiastical law has un dergone no radical change, but church trials have been greatly simplified and improved. Many valuable changes have been made in various por tions of the Discipline. Ratio of representation has been reduced about one-third. A constitu tional law was adopted for a woman’s missionary society, which suggests raising means for the pur pose of sending women to teach their own sex in China and other heathen countries, this field of labor being inaccessible to male missionaries. The great absorbing question of all has been the Publishing House at Nashville, Tennessee. This was referred to a committee with full powers to sell, or take such other steps as they see proper to relieve the house of its present unfortunate em barrassment. What a noble band of Bishops, which time fails us to mention in detail. Where is the superior of Bishop Wightman? His winning ways endear him to all: while he observes the parliamentary rules of propriety with such rigidity as to have become a synonym of precision. When he speaks it is like breaking the box of alabaster, so gentle an influence is felt pervading his presence and all those ground him. His dignified and diversified talent renders him almost a necessity in the Con ference. The name of Bishop McTyere, from South Carolina, comes to us with pleasant memories. It is attributable, in a great measure, to his influ ence that Vanderbilt University now has an exis tence. His clear, cool deliberation in all matters of importance, make his decisions invaluable to the Conference. "Writers invariably, before they are pleased to favor their readers with some important fact, which is to give weight and value to their sub ject, commonly indulge themselves in profound remarks, and a postponement of the important truth which we want to get at—two bad habits, which we dislike, and after the manner of the old Roman writers, prefer rather to dash abruptly into our subject: Giants their history, etc. Ac cording to Talmudical tradition, Adam’s height before his fall reached to the firmament; but after his fall, God put his hand upon him, and com pressed him. ihe Holy Bible establishes to us distinctly several races of giants, as the Rephaims the Anakins, the Enims, the Zonzonims, etc. The Anakims are descendants of Anak, now the in habitants of the land which God promised Abra ham to give to his seed. They were the giants who were seen by the spies, sent by Joshua, to whom the children of Israel were but as grass hoppers. The Talmud informs us that Og, king of Bashan, was one of the giants who came from the intermarriage of Angels with the daughters of men. His footsteps were forty miles long, and one of his teeth served to make a couch for Abraham. When the children of Israel came against him under the command of Moses, he in quired the size of this camp, and hearing that it was three miles in extent, he tore np a moun tain of that size, to build upon them. Grasshop pers were, however, sent to bore holes in it, so that it fell over his head on to his neck. His teeth also grew, and were entangled in the rocks, as the Psalmist says, ‘Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.’ Moses, however, overcame him. When Joshua entered the land of Canaan, he slew the descendants of Anak, who inhabited the cities of Hebron, Dabir and Anab, and only spared those of Gaza, Gath and Azoth, where, for many ages, the tombs of these giants were seen; and where, we are informed by Josephus, that in his time, bones of monstrous and incredible size were yet seen. The Rephaims descended from Repha, and con tinued to exist up to King David’s time. Goliah, who was slain by King David, was ten feet, seven inches high, and was one of the last branches of that family ; there are four others brought from Arabia to Rome, was ten feet high. Orlando, nephew’ to Charlemagne, slew the great Ferragus 18 feet high. In 1691, there was found in Macedonia a skul which held 210 pounds of corn. In 1516, there was found near Mazarine, Sicily, a giant 30 feet high, with a head as large as a hogshead, and teeth weighing five pounds. In 1548, there was one found near Palermo, 30 feet long, and in 1550, one 33 feet long. The Athenians found near their city a skeleton 150 feet long. The giant Israel, whose tomb was seen in the suburbs of St. Germaine, was twenty feet high. In 1G13. in Dauphine, France, a human skele ton was discovered entire, measuring 251 feet long. His head measured five feet in length, and ten feet round; the lower jaw was six feet round the chin from joint to joint. The eyes were about the size of a desert plate, and his teeth the size of an ox’s foot. Each of the collar bones were four feet long, snd his shin bones the same. At Totu, in Bohemia, in 785, a giant’s bones were found measuring 110 feet. Maximinus, Emperor of Rome, was eight feet and a half in height. He was very cruel, and despised of all men; and verified that old adage, ‘That high rooms are always ill-furnished.’ Boccace tells of a giant found in Sicily 300 feet high. This is supposed to be the skeleton of Polypheme. Funnam, a Scotsman, who lived in King Eugen the Second’s time, measured eleven feet and a half. A great many writers are of the opinion that those bones were those of elephants, whales and other enormous animals, while others, who have seen and examined them, have pronounced them to be real human bones, which proves beyond a doubt that giants have existed. CHARLESTON AT SUNSET. From the Note Book of an Atlanta Ex cursionist. We were steaming np the harbor. A deep qniet fell upon the noisy highlanders, who erow- ded the deck of the Sappho. A sense of beauty, of sublimity and awe filled every soul. Afar behind ns tho Atlantic stretched its bread ex panse and peeping above the water line that marked the horizon, the white canvas of some ocean ship oonld be seen rising above the danc ing waves, and projecting itself proudly against the southern sky. A little to the left the Light house in the distance, rose over Cummings Point. On onr larboard side Sumpter, like some great sea-turtle, lay flat upon the bosom of the water. And this was historic Sampler X it was not the Sumpter of onr pictorial histories, for shot and shell had left their imprints on the walls of stone, and had taken one story from its height; it was not the Sumpter my boyish fancy had pictured when I sat npon my soldier brother’s knee, and heard of the bristling guns in doable tiers frowning from their ports. I re member how my yoang blood tingled, and the longing that came over me to be a man, and a soldier, as he described the bombartment of the fort by the fleet of Admiral Dahlgreen, the sinking of the Keoknk, and the noble work old Snmpter did. But now only three or four large cannons oonld be seen lying lazily npon the ‘parapet like bnll-dogs on the watch. We passed between Snmpter and Moultrie, the latter on Sullivan Island. Monltrie, from the water, presents the appearance of a long breastwork of sand. I looked for the Palmetto logs of revolutionary fame, bnt they were gone, or covered over with sand and sod. But we were hurrying on. In our front appa rently resting on the water, Charleston present ed itself to onr admiring gaze. The tumbling waters; the graceful little yachts skimming over a sea of diamonds; on our left a large British merchantman riding at anchor; the shipping fringing the wharves on the Cooper river, boats loading and unloading, sailors climbing upon the masts. Then the Battery with its drive and promenade, the park, and peeping above the green trees, the great square white houses with double piazzas fronting on the sea; while above them all, and against a background of bine sky and white cumuli that piled them selves on the western horizon. St. Michael lifts its spire. As we were returning down the Ash ley river, we passed half dozen negroes in a fishing boat, returning home doubtless after a day of toil on the river. They are bending to the oars, and keeping time to the steady stroke, givirg back to the witters a song such as only the African can sing, “A song that mingled joy and pain, And memories old and sadly sweet While timing to its minor strain. The waves in lapsing cadence beat.” It carried me back to the log-rolling songs of the old plantation life. How different this peaceful scene from the stormy days of sixty-one and three, with the continuous roar of artillery from Moultrie and Sumpter’s walls, while from the enemy’s fleet, the big cannon return the fire and belch de struction on our ranks, and from the sides, batteries Beauregard and Wagner m return rains Bhot and shell upon these iron monsiere- of the deep. While from the marshes of J&me& Island the “Swamp Angel” or more properly the “Demon of the Swamp” with infernal roar hurls its missils of death, among the sleeping women and children of the defenceless city of Charleston in the agony of Laocoon writhing as the toils of the enemy are slowly wound about her. But now the scene had changed,peace reigned, and the stars and stripes’ floated above the Custom House, and flapped lazily in the breeze. And the last rays of the setting snn, reflected from St. Michael’s spire, fell in a golden sheen over the white houses and died away on the tremblmg waters, and all was quiet save the murmuring waves kissing the peebles on the beach. £, A Marriage Game. AN UNNATURAL FATHER. He Destroys an Fntire Family of Helpless Children. Augusta, May 12.—Jason Soribner made a fa tal assault with a spade upon his family yester day. He assaulted his son, aged five, a little girl aged three, another son aged aleven, and a year old baby. He afterwards attempted suicide by cutting his own throat, bui was arrested be fore suiciding. The deed has been a theme for conversation to-day. Hundreds visited the scene of the tra gedy. The little babe one year old died at mid night, making two victims, while the oldest, aged five, lingers in spasms, but will probably die before morning. Scribner’s embarrassed condition, and the effort made to take care of him by legal process, weighed npon his mind and had much to do toward hastening this fear ful result. He was a terror to the neighborhood at times, and threatened to burn the buildings of his neighbors, who through fear did not complain of him and have him arrested. Opinion is gen erally entertained that he must have been par tially insane when he committed the awful deed. His mind was evidently considerably shattered by leading an intemperate life from youth, thongh he quit drinking some two years since. Johnson.—“Get money ;‘stiil get money, boyt no matter by what means.” Sidney.—‘‘Many-headed multitudes.” R. B. Hayes.—“He serves his party best who serves his country best.” A Young Widow the Stake* A bassino marriage game was recently played in the staid old town of Franklin, Mass. One of the guests at an evening reception was a charming young widow, and another was an available gentleman of means. Several couples had tested their skill at a bassino board, and the gentleman suggested to his partner that they should try their skill at the pins. The chal lenge was accepted, and the lady playfully pro posed that they should play for a wager. The gentleman gallantly assented, and asked her to name the stake. Seeing her confusion the host jokingly said: “His hand against yours !” The lady demurred, and was turning to leave the table, when the gentleman, after a moment’s thought, said: “My hand for yours if I win, or at your dis posal for any young lady of respectability (her consent being first obtained,) if I lose.” The wager was accepted, and the company gathered around the board. The lady led off with a king strike worth 45, while her partner missed “little bassino” and made a muff with, the third ball. Undaunted he continued play ing, and his fair antagonist followed with equal spirit until the seventh inning, when the score stood: He 215; she 164. The excitement was now intense, and the widow flushed, and tremb ling, played very nervously. At the close of the run she had lost instead of gaining ground, the score being. He, 385; She, 138.” The hostess advanced, took the feebly resisting hand of the fair widow and placed it in that of the winner, who said something very sweet to her, and then turned to the host and begged permission tc keep the mace as a memento of the blessed eve ning. NEW ADVERTISEMENTS. PRESERVING CORPSES! To the Citizens of Atlanta, and Surrounding Cities and Villages, and to Undertakers in Particular : Now that warm weather has commenced, and all of us are continually exposed to sickness aud death, 1 would say to yon, gentlemen, that I have in store a full supply of Egyptian Balm, which is a sure and effective corpse preserver. Anybody can administer it. aud it makes the nse of Ice useless. One bottle of Egyptian Balm does more towards preserving a corpse than any amount of Ice you may he able to procure; keeps it life-like and natural, to which hundreds of onr own citizens can tes tify. Call on me before the corpse becomes rigid, or as soon as death has taken place, and I will guarantee to keep the corpse for any length of time you wish. Refer ences given from first families in the city. Office and ware-rooms, No. 26 West Alabama street, Atlanta, Ga. METALLIC AND WOODEN BURIAL CASES, of any style and size constantly on hand. FRANK X. BLIhEY, Undertaker. 124-ly Attention Ladies! Enclose twenty-five cents to H. 8. Mozart, Eastman, Ga.,andgeta recipe that will, in a few minutes, drive every fly from your room. No poison ; ro humbug. In- greuieuts in every day use in every family. The use of traps, poisons, etc.; have conclusively proven that it is impossible to destroy flies as fast as they multiply. The more that are killed the greater the increase, hence the ( necessity for something to drive them out, 124-2t