FRONTIERSMAN AND SOLDIER 233 



The next object of his jealousy was Jackson. There 

 is superabundant testimony that the conduct of the 

 latter was quite above reproach. One of the most 

 winsome features in Jackson's character was his sin- 

 cere and chivalrous respect for women. He was also 

 peculiarly susceptible to the feeling of keen sympathy 

 for persons in distress. Robards presently left his 

 wife and went to Kentucky, threatening by and by to 

 return and make her life miserable. His temper was 

 so ugly and his threats so atrocious that Mrs. Robards 

 was frightened, and in order to get quite out of his 

 way, she made up her mind to visit some friends at 

 distant Natchez. In pursuance of this plan, with 

 which the whole neighbourhood seems to have con- 

 curred, she went down the river in company with the 

 venerable Colonel Stark and his family. As the Ind- 

 ians were just then on the war-path, Jackson accom- 

 panied the party with an armed escort, returning to 

 Nashville as soon as he had seen his friends safely 

 deposited at Natchez. While these things were going 

 on, the proceedings of Captain Robards were charac- 

 terized by a sort of Machiavellian astuteness. In 1791 

 Kentucky was still a part of Virginia, and according 

 to the code of the Old Dominion, if a husband wished 

 to obtain a divorce, he must procure an act of the 

 legislature empowering him to bring his case before a 

 jury, and authorizing a divorce conditionally upon the 

 jury's finding the proper verdict. Early in 1791 Rob- 

 ards obtained the preliminary act of the legislature 

 upon his declaration that his wife had run away with 

 Jackson. He then deferred further action for more 

 than two years. Meanwhile it was reported and be- 

 lieved in the West that a divorce had been granted ; 



