"Then we went to live in the new house at 308 Ashland avenue. There my troubles began afresh, and grew until 1888. The newspaper stories have dwelt at great length on insinuations of my conduct with a priest for whom I was said to have built a chapel in my house. Nothing could be more preposterous on the face of it, as any Roman Catholic will tell you. The church does not sanction the erection of altars, the giving of communion, and the receiving of confessions in private homes. Dispensations for temporary masses can be obtained in rare instances.
"There was a priest named Father Price, from Asheville, N. C., who was raising money for his church in Chicago. We gave a recital that netted him $500, after which he was a guest for two weeks at our house.
"He obtained a dispensation to say mass a few times, and did so before a temporary saint's altar set on a bureau. When he departed the altar went with him, and that is as close as we ever came to having a private chapel in our house.
"The French priest with whom I was said to have eloped was Father Moysant. He never said a mass in our house, and I never knew him except as one of the priests of the parish who were entertained frequently by Mr. McDonald.
Leaves Husband; Goes to Sister.
"I did not run away with Father Moysant or any other person, the fact being that, unable to stand Mr. McDonald's treatment, I left his house in the fall of 1887 and went to live with Mrs. Peter McGuire, whose house stood on the site of the present Studebaker building. I begged Mr. McDonald to let my boys come to me, but he refused. At the end of three weeks I went to New York alone, sailed for Havre, still alone, and went to visit my sister, Mrs. Catherine Phillpot, who lived in Paris.
"I remained there eleven months and returned to New York. At the Fifth Avenue hotel, where I stopped, I found Pinkerton detectives, hired by Mr. McDonald, watching me. I complained to Mr. Philips, the house detective, of the annoyance, as he will tell you. I was traveling under the name of Armstrong, my mother's maiden name—she was English and my father, Irish, you know. The annoyance of the detectives became so great that I returned to Paris on the same boat on which I had come to America. That was the middle of October, 1888.
"After six months with my sister in Paris I returned directly to Chicago. When I arrived I found my daughter dead and with my own hands I buried her baby the next day. I found also that I had been divorced by Mr. McDonald in proceedings before Judge Jamieson, though no notice ever was served on me."
Pawns Her Diamonds.
Mrs. McDonald spread out her ringless fingers significantly, and continued: