Show v ROMANCE AND DISCORD I = j 9 Irurnished in the Matrimonial Experiences of Abram Rhines j I aI BEEN TJrROUGIE THE DIVORCE x 3IILL arEVJSX TI3LES AJ1 < 1 with That Record Behind Him < t TJiis Indiana tlaii Haw Just Made HiH Twelfth Venture Has Vibrated w Between Hymens Altar and the Courts for Twenty Years La Porte Ind Nov 1C Abraham Hhimes Is an Indiana man who enjoys 5 the nnusuol distinction of having lived with and been divorced from 1 wives More than that he ha just taken unto himself his twelfth wife Hhimes is a picturesque character Ho sjs patiJarchal in appearance The snows of 75 winters have whitened his hear while his figure is stooped and bent Rhime is seemingly controlled by a mania to marry He is however pursued by a mysterious Nemesis Twenty years have elapsed since his lirst marriage Courts for nearly two decades have been tribunals before whi h Illumes ha appeared to have the vows of wedlock annulled No wife has been permitted to share his life for a longer period than three years Some of his alliances have been unprecedented un-precedented in their brevity while others have been remarkable for their peculiar phases of domestic life His wives Tith the exception of No5 have been but few years out of their II teens Indiana girls have not alone been permitted to become the wives of i the muchmarried Hoosier but adjacent adja-cent states have offered their daughters daugh-ters at his shrine Romance aijd discord are interwoven I in the recital of 20 years of wedded life Hhimes has been the petitioner in all I the applications for divorce but one the exception being recorded in the case of his first wife He commenced I life a farmer and by frugal industry succeeded iir accumulating a fortune I From the time he attained his majority J ma-jority until he was 55 years of age he lived the life of a recluse A peculiar I feature which developed in early life was Rhimes marked aversion to women II wo-men of whom later in life he was a persistent wooer At the age of 55 j years the Indiana farmer determined Ito I-to break the monotony of his existence by taking unto himself a wife and I with this end in view the want coiumn of a matrimonial journal offered the desired medium for bringing about a I irarriage Among several hundred letter received re-ceived was one from Miss Emeline Gandy of Minneapolis who wove bright I bits of sentiment into the letters which she indited to Rhimes The courtship 3 brief and Miss Gancly became Mrs Rhimes No 1 Rhimes could 1 not reconcile recon-cile himself to marrjed life and one years experience brought final estrangement es-trangement and divorce Miss Gandy returned to Minneapolis and Rhimes set himself about to get a second wife I Two months later July 8 1877 Miss Iss Martha Robbins of Evansville took upon herself the vows of constancy Six months from that time Rhimes was again a free man Miss Robbins had been found wanting Still an unbe liever in the saying that marriage is a failure Rhimes journeyed to Detroit De-troit Mich and in February 1879 Miss Samantha Bengal of that city without pitvious knowledge of the In diana mans rejection of two former wives consented to marriage There was a lack of harmony in their do itioctic relations and the divorce calen dar recorded the inevitable legal decree uf separation Then followed Miss Levina Straw of Indianapolis who presided over the Rhimes household until 1SS Rhimes then determined to live alone but he a still the victim of an uncontrolable mania and Mrs Anna Roland a St Louis widow next became the sub ject nf his blandishments His Nemesis was not sleeping and on April 5 1SS6 Rhimes was again divorced and going into seclusion there remained until July 22 1887 when Mrs Sarah Overly of Chautauqua county N Y Chautauqua consented con-sented to share his joys and sorrows Mrs Overly typified the new woman of her day for as Mrsfl Rhimes she asserted her wifely prerogatives and the husband sought redress in the courts Miss Rachael Magnum aged 22 of Cleveland 0 was wife No 7 Mar lar ned in 1888 she was divorced in Sep tember 1SS9 Rhimes repented of the action after the court had restored to her her former name and the reconciliation recon-ciliation being mutual the divorced wife became Rhimes bride and eighth wife The time came however for Rhimes to disagree for good but after afer the union with his ninth wife a Miss Smith of Louisville and his action for divorce the Indiana courts refused to issue further recrees and Rhimes de tennined to prosecute his conquest wnt to Dakota where he acquired residence and a legal separation He then located in Berrin county Mich wrere he met and wooed Miss Stella Bloomhaten and in his seventy I second year was married to the Michigan Michi-gan girl whose age was but 24 He I divorced his tenth wife in that state and returning to the Hoosier state I again found peace of mind in an alliance alli-ance with Mrs Mary Walsh But alI months sufficed to tell the tale of domestic do-mestic infelicity and the connubial knot was again ruthlessly severed Last week Miss Ethel Rytall of Armstrong Arm-strong county Pa a member of a well known family was hride No 12 and marriage and domestic bliss once more reign supreme in the Rhimes house hold Rhimes is a lean awkardappearing man He has coarse features and might be called a rawboned backwoodsman back-woodsman He has an aquiline nose small deepset eyes and large mouth n heavy mustache ornaments his upper Up The hair on his head is sparse He seldom wears a necktie or collar while Ins clothes are of rough homespun whie I terial He wears a brown hat and is an inveterate tobaccochewer He is fairly well educated During the 20 years that Rhimes has been a familiar figure in the courts of justice he has paid 30000 in alimony to divorced wives and the end is ap I parently not yet despite his age I |