New Haven Daily Herald

"Truth stranger than fiction."—We copy the following narrative from the Boston Daily Bee of Tuesday. Our Milford friends will know whether it is true or not. If it is, we hope they will send a special deputation after Mister John Francis, and if they catch him put him into the mouth of Mr. Ingersoll's big gun and fire him off at once. It may be, however, that the girl is only one of the Register's "musty spinsters," in which case it won't be so much of a matter.

Correspondence of the Boston Daily Bee.
New York, Sept. 6, 1844.

A chapter of Woman's frailty and Man's perfidy.—My letters are generally occupied with news items only, but I am now seated for an inside gossip with your readers to relate an incident, which is another of the thousand mysteries in which this great city abounds. After the departure of the Eastern boats, yesterday, I was strolling with a friend upon the Battery, when in our hearing, a young female asked a boatman where she could obtain a glass of water, to which he replied that "there was none to be had;" a rude remark truly to make at the very portal of the hospitable Charley Rabineau's bath! But my friend with his accustomed gallantry, offered to bring her a glass, and in his absence I observed that her frock, though calico, was neat and fitted to a form well developed, tho' not perfect—her thin shawl was thrown over her shoulders with taste—her foot was incased in a handsome gaiter—and upon her head she wore a plain straw hat—but of her features I could not catch a glimpse, for an odious green veil, that completely shrouded them from mortal gaze, save at her pleasure.

On the arrival of the water, however, my curiosity in this respect was gratified, and as she raised the envelope in the act of drinking, I beheld a countenance slightly tinged with beauty, it is true, but radiant with innocence and purity—and much to my surprise, too, I confess it, for unhappily the Battery of a warm afternoon, is rather the resort of abandonment than virtuous females—at least the latter are generally protected from the libertine's vulgar gaze and further insult by the company of a gentleman. It is a disgrace to the authorities, yet a truth, that it is not safe for a lady to visit this pride of the city, except with a gentleman.

But to return to our heroine. There was a touching melancholy clouding her features and saddening the tones of a voice, otherwise sweet and pleasant to the ear, that told of misfortune, and interested us to learn the cause, her accosting a boatman as she did, clearly proving that she was a stranger in the city.— At first she was silent nor replied to my friend's inquiries, but at length told us a tale of perfidy and misery, too often, I fear, enacted in life in New York. She said she is a native of Milford, Conn. where she has resided with a widowed mother till last week of a Monday, when she left her home with one, whom she trusted as a friend, but who has proved a villain. It seems that he came to Milford about two months since and engaged in the bar of a hotel there, where she became acquainted with him, and in a word, soon loved him. On last Sunday, a week, he told her that he had received a letter requiring his immediate presence in New York, and ended, a long tirade of love, by begging her to accompany him and promising to make her his wife upon his arrival here. He triumphed and the next morning's boat from Hartford bore her away from friends and the guardian of her purity, to rely upon the honor of one who unfortunately was destitute of the article, in toto. Upon their arrival here, he took her to a Mrs. Hart's, No. 29 Rosabel street, where he introduced her as his wife, and it being dusk and she fatigued, he cunningly proposed to delay the ceremony till the next morning, giving as an additional reason that he had urgent business out that would require his immediate attention. He did not return till late, when, as she avers, in spite of her remonstrance, he occupied the same bed for the night and accomplished her ruin!

The same excuse of "business" was his plea to her solicitations for five days, when she becoming resolute in her demands, he told her that she must wait at least a month, for a chamber-maid in a house where he boarded last spring, and to whom he had been rather attentive, was trying to "kick up a muss" with him—and that he must play off awhile—should he marry now, the enraged girl would imprison him at once. Catharine (such she says is her name) gave credence to the story and ceased to importune him.

On Sunday, after dinner, he left her, saying that he was going with a friend to Hoboken, and she has not seen him since! Mrs. Hart, of course, professed her amazement at his departure, but very kindly told her yesterday after breakfast, that if she had no money to pay her board she must leave, and the poor girl did walk out into the street, with a solitary five-cent piece, her sole funds, leaving behind her a trunk of clothing as security to this hag of a Hart, for $2.50, the amount of her claim for half a week's board, (as she says the absentee paid the last week's.) She had ate nothing when we met her, save two ginger cakes, from morning, and ended her sad narrative by a prayer that she might die.

I know it is not always safe to give credence to such a story of destitution through injury, even though it fall from the lips of a pretty woman, but there was an apparent sincerity about her that compelled belief, so having procured the assistance of a Constable we accompanied her to Mrs. Hart's, who corroborated the injured girl's statement in such important features as to leave no doubt of the truth of the whole—at the same time she persisted in denying all acquaintance or collusion with the scoundrel—save that he was in the habit of calling on a boarder of her's last winter, who is now in Baltimore.— She knew him by the name he passed under at Milford, John Francis, and understood that he tended a bar in Park Row. This is undoubtedly an assumed name for the occasion.

The adventure resulted in the young girl's return to Milford by this morning's coach. I am sorry that I cannot transcribe the real name of the offender.

VIATOR.