My precipitous departure

The decisions of the Supreme Territorial Court came too late.

I had begun to imagine extra-legal means to solve my difficulties with Woffenden, because I could no longer bear the expectation of a possible judgment in my favor.
In its December 25, 1875 edition, the Arizona Citizen announced the discovery of a "diabolical attempt to assassinate Richard in the Old Pueblo. (Old Tucson" (see below)
The newspapers wrote that: "details have been reported on various operations to carry out a murderous project. "
No names, however, were mentioned. A grand jury constituted in February 1876, among other cases, heard the testimony of seventeen witnesses concerning a murder project.

On February 19, 1876, the court issued an indictment against me.
Woffenden, Samuel Laurent, and other unknown, ill-intentioned persons testified before the great jurors, alleging that "on December 18, 1875, I had with Laurent, and others, associated and agreed with for this project. . . to kill and assassinate Richard Woffenden.
I would have hired an accomplice by paying him 1000 $ (9745 €), representing an advance.

But, the plot was discovered in time to prevent this assassination.

Traduction article
Une personne très informée et qui, pour certaines raisons, dissimule son vrai nom, a eu une longue communication avec le Citizen d'hier sous le titre de «Court Gossip» pour parler des procès  de L. C. Hughes, demandeur, contre Anna C. Woffenden, et  ses parents, Peter et John Charouleau.
Cette personne  affirme qu’environ un jour avant son départ pour la France, Anna C. Woffenden, est entrée dans le bureau de Hughes & Titus en disant que le grand jury alors  en session avait trouvé une accusation contre elle…..
Elle leur a  ensuite dit que depuis le début du mois  de Mars 1874,  L. C. Hughes ne l’a pas vue, mais que  son neveu Juan Charouleau les a payés ainsi que toutes leurs autres revendications  avec une  note datée du 17 avril 1874.
Que L. C. Hughes ait  déjà vu Anna C. après mars, 1874, l'auteur n'est pas en mesure de le déterminer.
Cependant, tous les anciens colons savent qu’Anna C. est arrivée   à Tucson en 1876.
Elle aurait alors, concocté un projet  pour  se débarrasser de son mari, Richard Woffenden
par un  assassinat.
Elle a embauché un complice pour la somme de $ 1,000, en partie payé à l'avance, mais la conspiration a été découverte à temps pour empêcher l'assassinat.
Le grand jury de 1876 a lancé un acte d'accusation contre Anna C. pour ce crime. C’est à ce moment-là  que L. C. Hughes a réclamé ses honoraires, (pas pour un acte d'accusation précédent.)
Cela ne devait été jugé, avant que l'officier puisse arrêter Anna C.
Son neveu, Pedro Charouleau a pris Anna C. en  buggy et est revenu avec le cheval et le buggy sans sa tante.
Ensuite, on a appris que Anna C. avait s'est enfuie en France.
M. Wise-Acre a dit que Juan Charouleau a payé deux ans à l'avance les avocats de sa tante au cas où elle commettrait  un meurtre en 1876 (?)
Encore très loin de la vérité,  la déclaration de M. Wise-Acre à propos du procès de Woffenden contre Charouleau, s’est enflée du vendredi dernier et samedi dans la journée :
Richard Woffenden aurait  poursuivi et obtenu le  divorce avec Anna (Jugé en 1879) mais il n'y aurait  pas eu de règlement immobilier à ce moment-là.
Si Wise-Acre avait recherché  les témoignages  avant d'écrire l'article de sa main pour les journaux, il n’aurait pas affirmé que Richard Woffenden « ne prétend réclamer aucune part d'une propriété possédée par Anna C. avant son mariage avec lui ».
À ceux qui connaissent les faits dans ce procès,  cette communication de Wise-Acre est regardée  comme un puits, disons très profond, comme  une histoire stupide, et personne ne serait  tout étonné d'entendre Anna C. et Charouleau s'exclamer: " que le ciel nous sauve
de nos amis. "  X. Y. Z.

 Arizona weekly citizen., December 20, 1884

I could have been tried in absentia, but it would not have been possible without my presence.
The case dragged on during each district court term until it was eventually extinguished in February 1879.
On May 18, 1876, my nephew John deposited the deeds of my properties at the Pima Recorder County office, to establish his right of ownership in the event Woffenden claimed them.
Then, on December 9, the Citizen reported that: "A. Charouleau" was among the arrivals this week in Tucson, without mentioning what I could do there. In fact, I did not leave immediately for France, but I stayed in California. The reason for this return to Tucson was very important, especially since the warrant was still in force and I could not have gone unnoticed in the city.
I had to settle all my affairs before my final departure, considering the importance of my possessions.
At the time the conspiracy case was rejected in 1879, Richard Woffenden sought Anna's divorce. He accused me of having abandoned him, "voluntarily and without cause," in March 1876, and since that day I have lived apart from him, "against his will, his wish or his consent."
 
Since the assignment was not transmitted to me in person and my current address was unknown to Woffenden, the publication in the local newspaper was sufficient.
As was probably anticipated, I did not reply and a divorce judgment was issued in May 1879.
 
On June 30, 1879, Richard Woffenden married Martha Hollett, a forty-six-year-old physician from Indiana who had studied at the College Hospital of Cleveland homeopathic in 1872. Born on February 12, 1833, probably in Brown Township, Hendricks in Indiana state, she lived on the farm of her family until her mid-thirties.

The Arizona Weekly Citizen reported on August 20, 1879 that I was in San Francisco, and that I would be back in Tucson to file complaints against my two nephews who had not fulfilled their agreement with me at the time of the sale of my properties.
Yet, according to the Citizen, Pierre and Jean had managed to make the monthly payments on the property they had bought from me.
Because there was no similar article in the Arizona Star, published by LC Hughes, it's hard to know if I was actually back in Tucson, or, if that was a mixture of reality and fantasy.
The September 24, 1879 issue of the Los Angeles Herald, however, announced that I had a letter waiting at the main post office, suggesting that I was either in Los Angeles or that I was soon to arrive in Tucson.
In October, the Weekly Citizen noted that I had filed two complaints against my nephews and that both complaints had been placed on the district court calendar.
There is no other evidence for these two cases.

Lots of noises and fantasies so around my person ....

After my definitive departure for Toulouse in 1883, Richard persisted in wanting to recover the property I had sold to my nephews by still using marital law and denouncing invalid acts to justify his claim.
He continued until 1886 when he lost his case and the District Court ordered that some of his property be sold to satisfy the $ 709.61 ($ 11,771) judgment in our favor.
the Sheriff of Pima County requisitioned thirteen city lots and two mining concessions, Mary Lee and Red Metal, which will be auctioned off and that Pierre and Jean will buy.
On the evening of February 6, 1887, Richard Woffenden, aged about sixty-two, died suddenly at his home.
The doctor who performed the autopsy found nothing unusual, judging that his death had been caused by "inflammation of the intestines. "
Because many "suspicions" were publicly expressed an investigation was carried out.
The coroner (an investigator of the circumstances of a violent death, or who appears to be the result of a crime, and who must determine the cause) found that there was "no reason" to doubt that Woffenden succumbed to natural causes.
An important crowd attended the funeral of Woffenden on February 7, 1887.
The Arizona Daily Star made his panegyric as "one of the pioneers of Pima County. When he moved here, he had a comfortable fortune. He has, however, encountered catastrophes, and in his old age he has seen the property accumulated during his life completely dissipated. He was a man very respected by all who knew him. "
Well, not quite, I can attest ...
On May 19, 1887, the estate of Woffenden was valued at $ 770, (€ 12,188) consisting of seven whole city lots and half of many others.
The property was awarded to his widow, Martha, in February 1889.
In the following May, to Martha who now lives in Los Angeles, were awarded the retirement benefits of her late husband's civil war. In 1900, she retired from a pension at Matthews House in Los Angeles.
Martha Hollett Woffenden died in the house of her adopted daughter in Fruitvale, California on 19 October, 1908.