The North-Carolinian., 1861-04-20
MRS. GAINES.

! VINO SHE Is-WHo HER ANCESTORS WERE
| How SHE CAME To BE IN CoURT-llER M
| MENsE FoKTUNE-INTERESTING PARTICULARS
OF THE GREAT SUIT.
| The annals Of litigation furnish no two more
interesting or peculiar cases than those OF
Madame Patterson Bonaparte, and of Mrs.
Myra Clark Gaines both of which have, for
many years, occupied prominent positions
letore not only the legal profession, but the
eyes of the whole world. These cases are
| neutrality-suspicious. and pcculiarlyillustrative
| OF certain phases OF American society, and as
such, possess other interests than those of a
! merely pecuniary character Each has
reacl ed, after protracted struggles, Il decision,
| the one adverse to and the other in IA vor OF
the claimant-thc one loses all she deemed
worth living for, while the other gains not
only fortune of fabulous amount but estab
fishes forever the honor of her mother
Had the Imperial Court been moro
kind, the American claimant ola l>ngly hand
would now be in possession of 4 XII gly estate
with her sons legitimacy acknowledged be
fore the world, while, as 1t is, these are deni-
cd her, and perhaps forever.
! In view, then of the interest of The celebra
ted cause SO lately decided i'll favor of Mrs.
Caves, by fun bench of the Supreme Court
of the United States, brief resume Of its
material facts will not be misplaced.
| Daniel Clark, who was one OF the early
remarkable person. His sagacity, prudence
and business tact, soon placed him -
the he d of its monetary world, While his
beauty of person. popular character, and
agreeable manners afforded him simil pos
ition in the society circle. In l6O2 lie be-
came acquainted in Philadelphia with u lady
of extraordinary personal beauty, FAMED
Zulime Carrcfrc. She was born in tho old
French colony of Biloxi. and her pcrents
were emigrants from the land of poetry and
romance-Providence- iavo.itc home OF
the Troubadours. When Clark first met her
she had been living in wedlock with 4 swind-
Ter named jerome de Grange, who, having
dazzled her with slitterns coro:sS, .l.tric,t
her, and then disclosed the astounding facts
| that he was contrebertes and bigamIst.
Zulinc appealed for protection to Clark, VINO
being warm-hearted and chiyallous, at once
espoused her cause, and after becoming con-
vinced that De Grange hnd another wife liv-
ing, cspoused her himself. The nal rage
was kept secret, and in 1906 Myra, now Mrs.
Gaines, was born. Being NATURALLY desirous
Of having her connection with Clark a public
ly acknowledged one, Zulilnc went to Now
Orleans to obtain legal proofs Of her husbands
rascality. While she was gone, Clark, who
had grown into an Influential politician, be-
came enamored Of Miss Cation, gr?nd-dau-
ghter Of Charles Carroll, with whom he con-
ractcd an engagement though when reports
were bought to Miss Cation, alleging her
lovers marriage to Iulllne, she at once Ins-
sted upon q release from the engagement, and
she subsequently became the Maichionoss OF
Wellesley.
In the meantime, Zulimc had returned to
Philadelphia, and sought to obtain proofs of
her marriage with Clark, who had, with sin
gular trcachery, destroyed all that he could
discover. Finding herself helpless, in n
strange country, and with child dependent
, upon her. she was wholly at loss what to do,
and, in her destituton, driven almost to des-
, pair, she accepted the hand Of DIR. Gardette,
who with Kindness and generosity, united
his fortune with hers. Clark, in the mean
time, had become tenitent, but, ON hhstening
!, to find his former love, asce rained That she
: was the wife Of another He took the child
Mvrtl, placed her under the care Of a friend,
, and had her most literally educated. Zuline
5 lived for long time after that, attained the
age Of 7S years. and died at New orleans but a
few years since.
Clark, whose business talent proven
t bal ama5SeI an immense fortune in louisa
$ ma, Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland, which
v he bcqucrthcd by viii in 1913, to his mother
G Mary Clark, naming Beverly Chew and Rich
= ard Relf bankers OF New Orleans as eXecu
J. tors. Charges have been preferred against
O the executors Of badfaith and mlsmanagcmen
/ but however that may be, NJ yca-then Mrs
v W Whitcny-having discovered at maturity
o that her mother had been the wife of the de
It ceased millionaire, with an impulse of honora
e bic affection for which she cannot be toe
e highly praised, determined to assert her righ
: as the legitimate child and consequent heires,
Il to the entire property.
Il That she met with opposition and will
f Obstacles Of all sorts may we'll be imagined
but she battlcd for her t4lothers honor anC
9 evInced the most coininendab.e spirit anc
: perseverance, in spite OF most fearful odds
. Her husband died but she rcmarricd and r
Il f,,l n.
!, person of General Gaines, who believed il
! her legitimacy, and aided her with all Ii,
, might 1t would be Wcarisome merely tt
: index the various legal struggles, the attempt
o cd social ostracisms, the treacherlc+, the sor
r rows, the hopes and fears experienced by Mrs
e Gaines in this work OF her lifetime. She stiee
. in n,lrnlrrous Courts, and with varied sue
- cess. unit! her fortune was gone, her friends
= convinced Of the uSelessneSS of further trial
. and all bat her own indotnitabc spirit fed
! She still struggled on, acd, as last resort
l brou ght the case in its amplitude and It's
labvrinths oflcgal tecin.calites to the Suprc
me Court Of the land. There, after, a long
! and patient hearing, she has obtaiaed her
e victory, The Court has unanimously decid
I ed that Myra Clark Gaines is the only iegati
u mate child of Daniel Clark, and that as snct
= she is entitled to all the property lett by hlm
n Mr.. Justice Wayne, in closing the decision o
= = the Court, seems to have placed particular
. emphasis on the wofas, 'hat .iie supp e','' =,
Court would see that the provisions ct th'
y decision were carried iDto effcct-a Statement
II of more than ordinary Importance when w
III reflect that possibly the State of Lonsian'
N NAV. decline to take cognizance of, or b.
J. :. bound by, decree emanating from TO less !
y tribunal than the Supreme Court of the lat
), United States Of America
n Mor11n April l5.-I.ncoln's answer to the ' II
&c g;nia commissioners is regarded here as dcctar
alton of war 1t is hoped that Virginia VIII n
le longer permit herself to be humougseo'