Richmond Enquirer

HEAR ALSO THE OTHER SIDE.

PRIVATE controversies and family broils, particularly those which have produced a separation between man and wife,) are justly deemed very unfit subjects for newspaper discussion. But, when a husband, in open violation of social and moral obligations, disowns and abandons his wife, and adds insult to injury, by calumniating, in the public papers, her and her relations, whose crime has consisted in affording her shelter and protection in her misfortunes; the father of the injured wife may be excused at least, if not justified, for repelling (by a public statement of the real truth,) the malignant and foul aspersions attempted to be cast upon himself and his family. I therefore ask your permission to make a short reply to a false and libellous advertisement which appeared in your paper, of Dec. 22d 1818, signed "Henry Dabney," in the following words:

"Caution.—I do hereby forewarn all persons from crediting Catharine W. Dabney, my wife on any account, to the amount of one cent.—I also forewarn all or any person or persons from harboring or keeping her one minute under their roof, under the penalty of the laws, as I believe she was persuaded off by her relations, through some lucrative view. She made me a good and agreeable companion until they visited her, and after her leaving me, there were numerous reports set forth to my discredit, which have been, and can be proven, to be false and erroneous. HENRY DABNEY"

The said Henry Dabney, (a member of the Baptist Church, and a resident of King William county,) intermarried with my daughter Catharine, on the 30th day of October, 1816, and shortly afterwards removed her from my house to his residence in King William. Confiding in his honor, as a gentleman and a christian, and in his solemn promises at the marriage altar, to love, cherish and protect my daughter till death should part them, my wayward imagination had fondly sketched for them many years of unallied happiness. Fatal delusion! In less than 15 months after their marriage, I received a message from Henry Dabney, requiring me to send for my daughter and take care of her; that he no longer considered her his wife, and would no longer treat her as such. This message was as unexpected as distressing; for such had been the patience, meekness and resignation of his wife, that she had never uttered a whisper of complaint, under all the complicated wrongs and barbarities which he had heaped upon her; and it is highly probable that both she and her griefs would speedily have been buried in one common grave had not her husband, (after finding all other expedients vain) in his impatience to get rid of her, determined, as a last resort, to send me the message abovementioned. As soon as I received his message, notwithstanding the distance and the inclemency of the season, it being the depth of winter, Mr. Jackson, attended by Mr. Charles K. Bowles, immediately set off for King William, to bring my daughter to my home, in conformity to her husband's wishes. When they reached Henry Dabney's residence, they found his wife languishing upon a sick bed, unable to set up, and reduced by his bad treatment and neglect, to the verge of the grave. Her forlorn and helpless condition should have moved to compassion the heart of the most ruthless barbarian. But her husband (a professor of our holy religion.) who had solemnly promised before God, to love and cherish her till death, deaf to the voice of pity, and steeled against every emotion which teaches us to feel for the suffering of others, sternly refused to procure even the medicines which might restore her to health; and with his bible in his hands, solemnly swore (in the presence of Mr. Charles K. Bowles and others) that he would never again own her as his wife, nor expend one dollar for her support!!! His wife was then brought by her mother and Mr. Bowles to my house, where she was confined to a bed of suffering, disease and sorrow for many months. But it appears her persecutions and sufferings are not yet ended. Not contented with denouncing the vengeance of the law against all those who may shelter her one minute under their roof, he is at this time endeavoring, by a writ of habeas corpus, to regain possession of her person, doubtless for the purpose of reiterating his barbarities. In the publication above mentioned, he has stated with unblushing impudence, that "he believes his wife was persuaded off by her relations, through some lucrative view." Out of his own mouth, I will prove the falsehood of this charge. In a canting, whining, hypocritical letter to his wife, written with his own hand, and now before me, he says, "I feel that I am to blame for saying (he should have written "swearing") that I never would own you as a wife, nor would I lay out one dollar more on you." What confidence ought to be placed in the assertions of a man capable of publishing such shameless falsehoods, I leave to be determined by that public whose attention he has invited to the subject. I take leave of him for the present, by reminding him that those who live in glass houses, should beware of throwing stones. He will do well for the future to preserve that silence, which becomes those who have acted as he has; for I am fully persuaded he will never cease to be censured till he ceases to be noticed.

JOHN JACKSON.

Louisa county, Jan. 28.