Ray County, Missouri - Ray County Conservator transcription: Stearn & Uline Eloped From Nebraska Died in Richmond About the middle of December a man and woman arrived in the city and registered at the Ballard House as John Bailey and wife. They were accompanied by a little girl about 3 years old who answered to the name of Bette. A few days after their arrival the woman was taken ill and continued to grow worse until Dec. 24th, when she died. A few days after the death of the woman Bailey took the child to Hallard and let it with a family named Douglass. It has since been sent to relatives in Nebraska. Yesterday the Conservator learned some additional facts in regard to the couple. In our quest for information we learned that Bailey was not the right name of the couple and that they were not husband and wife. The man’s name is John Stearn and that of the woman was Mrs. Emma Uline. They had eloped from Boyd county Neb., where Stearns left a wife and 7 children in destitute circumstances, and Mrs. Uline left a husband and 3 children. Soon after the arrival of the couple here is became necessary for them to procure money and to do this they went before a Notary Public and executed a deed of trust for some land located near Paw Paw, Ill. On the deed of trust, which was signed by Mrs. Emma Uline, the bank at Paw Paw advanced $125. Before the money was received here, however, Mrs. Uline died and it was turned over the Bailey, or Stearns. He also received a small sum of money from another place. After the funeral of the woman Stearns paid all bills contracted during her sickness, demanding and taking receipts in all cases. When Mrs. Uline was signing the papers necessary to get the money from Illinois, Stearns told the Notary that they were a runaway couple; that Mrs. Uline was his step-sister, and that she was compelled to leave her husband on account of cruel and inhuman treatment. Frank Uline, the husband of woman, claims that when she left her home she had between $400 and $500. If she ever had that much money it had been spent before she reached Richmond, as she claimed to be unable to pay the attorney for his work until she heard from Illinois. Stearns has disappeared, and the erring woman is sleeping in an unmarked grave far from home and kindred. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Jenna Zunker USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or their legal representative, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------