Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1891 — SIOUX FALLS’ “400.” [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SIOUX FALLS’ “400.”

PROMINENT MEMBERS OF DAKOTA’S DIVORCE COLONY. Come from All Over the World—Old Men'. Disappointed Darlings and Young Men's Slaves Seeking to Regain Single Blessednese. Some of the “Colonists.” What a grand phantasmagoria, a pot-pourri of misplaced affections and mixod-up matrimonial alliances this place is, writes a correspondent from Sioux Falls, S. D. While throughout the length and breadth of the continent it has become known as the spot par excellence for the securing of divorces, and many queer ideas mayhave gained possession of the people’s minds as to what it is like, none of them, queer though they may be, can do justice to the situation. Here December wed to May. old men’s disappointed darlings and young men's slaves, young men with elderly affinities, unrequited love, budding hope and dead passions, all figure together in one fantastic show, which must be seen to be properly appreciated. Sioux Falls has a population of 15.000 and the occupations of her people are varied, but the chief scene of industry is the divorce court. While this is in session—which is nearly all the time —a steady stream of humanity passes in one door, each one with an application for a divorce in hand, and out the other with the granted divorce. The majority of the applicants are women, but there are some men. The women are all young—many less than 25 and few over 30--and the greater number of them are pretty. Some of them are very beautiful. The most prominent of the “colonists” is Mrs. James G. Blaine, Jr. Her household consists, besides herself, of her beautiful little boy, “Jamie,” his nurse, and the house servants. She has a handsome little cottage situated in the midst of a pretty lawn, dotted and bordered with flower beds, and is surrounded on two sides by a low-roofed, widespread piazza, which gives quite an air of cornfort and beauty to the house. In-

side the appointments of the cottage are of the simplest order, yet there are evidences of artistic taste and refinement throughout the quaint little dwelling. Hon. Thomas D. Worrall, M. D., who has recently obtained a divorce and now lives in Sioux Falls, is another person of note. Born ih England sixty-five years ago, he came to America young, moved to Boston and achieved reputation as an antislavery orator, even when the peerless Phillips was in his first blaze. Then he went to Colorado, was a member of the Territorial Legislature, and wrote his name largely and honorably on her early annals. Horace Greeley, who liked him heartily, persuaded him next to accept a professorship in New York in the American College of Medicine. Two years later, going to New Orleans, he became a member of the famous Warmoth Legislature, and as Sanitary Physician of New Orleans added t> his worldwide host of friends. Sickness capie to this learned and beloved man and he went to London for treatment, but famous surgeons, after operating, could give no hope, and he came* back to his adopted country to die. To his amazement he found his home broken up, his valuable furniture sold, his wife gone. “The mystery of the case,” he has said, “is that my wife and I never had the least falling out. Her desertion of me in my old age and supposed last illness was like lightning out of a clear sky. The thought comes to me, ‘Dying- man that I am, it will be sweet to die free.’ ” There are many others, but the ones cited are perhaps the most prominent persons here at present. As to Mrs. Blaine’s case an immense interest is felt, an interest which lies not alone in the points of

law. Mrs. Blaine, Jr., is a Catholic, and her example in taking this step contrary to the custom of her church is likely to cause some sensation. Still, hearts were created before creeds. Henry Austin, of Boston, the poet and writer, is also here. Mr. Austin claims to be the patriarch of the colony, and has been here long enough to have obtained his decree of divorce a month ago. He, however, is so well pleased with this part of the country that he intends, after a trip abroad, making Sioux Falls his home. No one comes here without hearing more or less about Mrs. Hubbard, a young woman from Red Bank, New Jersey. Mrs. Hubbard has set the goMipt by the ears. Her style of

beauty is something on the gyps J order, and her style in dress is much in the same line. She is possessed of a good voice, and sang in one of the churches here until the edifice couldn’t hold the youths and graybeards who flocked there to hear her, and then the

good people of the congregation concluded that that was making salvation too free, and they dispensed with her services. Mrs. Hubbard sues for divorce on the ground of desertion. She married a man much older than herself—she looks to be about 20—but found the old-man’s-darling plan of life very tedious. Her husband became jealous and she threw water on him and he arose and left her. Perhaps one of the handsomest women who have emigrated to Dakota to regain possession of their freedom and secure the safety of their children from unpleasant domestic influences is Mrs. Louise M. Beall, of Norfolk. Va. The Bealls are related to the Harrisons of the Old Dominion, and are distantly connected with the present President. Mrs. Beall is one among the few women who are here for the purpose of getting a divorce who has been received in Sioux Falls society.

DR. THOMAS D. WORRALL.

MRS. J. G. BLAINE, JR.

MRS. MINA HUBBARD.