Twice Shot At

New York, 1895

Local Exhorter Valentine Chased by Miss Fleming's Father.

Edward W. Valentine is well known as a local exhorter in Long Island and Connecticut. He has been for a number of years the secretary of the board of trustees of the St. James' Methodist church at Pearsalls and superintendent of the Sunday school. He has even occupied the pulpit in the absence of the minister. He has a wife but no children.

Among the ladies who attend St. James' church was Miss Belle Fleming, a handsome young woman who until recently has been a teacher in one the Brooklyn schools.

Recently it was remarked that Miss Belle Fleming was receiving more attention from Mr. Valentine than was consistent with propriety. People whispered their suspicions to Mrs. Valentine. Thursday night Miss Fleming, it is said, told her father a story which astounded him and put him in uncontrollable passion. He took his shot gun and went out to look for Valentine. Valentine was not in town. When the latter appeared at his place of business Friday morning he found Fleming awaiting him. The moment he saw Fleming he turned and ran into Forbell's grocery.

Fleming saw him and bounded after him. As he entered the front door he saw Valentine running out the rear of the store. He fired both shots, shattering the glass in the door. Whether Valentine was wounded or not is unknown, as he escaped across the lots and ran with all speed for the railroad tracks. Fleming followed until his strength gave out.

Valentine has probably gone to Scranton, Pa. He received a letter from that place recently tendering him the secretaryship of the young men's Christian association of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad at Scranton.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Feb. 8, 1895, p. 1.