on a charge of attempting to compel his wife [Emma] to sign her father's name to a note in favor of Meeker & Claussen. The case is the outgrowth of a family disturbance, in which a Chester's farm hand was also arrested for trespass, but was discharged.So who turned him in, I wonder? Emma herself? The farm hand, maybe?
By early April John was out of jail on $1,000 bond, joking that "he didn't get enough to eat while at the County Boarding house."
John and Emma had been married only two and a half years at that point. This shows a side to their marriage that I hadn't expected. Maybe the experience set him straight and the rest of their life together was peaceful and harmonious. There's a lot of microfilm to read between this and her death in 1935, so we may get more hints one way or the other. As for this particular case, I haven't seen any follow-up report as to whether he was found guilty, or the charges dropped, or what.
The Chesters livened things up around Ainsworth, didn't they? It couldn't have been easy for them to go through the drama of this and the other arrests I've reported on, but it certainly makes my work more interesting. For that I'm grateful to them, and I ought to be ashamed of myself.
Sources:
♦ "Ainsworth Pick-Ups." Hobart Gazette 3 Apr. 1908.
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette 27 Mar. 1908.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
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