The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-12-11
oTTUMWA, IOWA, "WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER L. 1861

through the drifts with heavily laden sleds,
breaking out the ways, The sidewalks il,
the little village were shovelled and swept
clean as fast as the snow fell; for, though all
business was suspended, according 10 the
suggestions in the Governors proclamation,
and in conformity to old usage, still they
liked TO keep the paths open on Thanksgiving
Day, - the paths and the roads /; for nearly
halfthc families in the place expected sons
and daughters from FAC away TO arrive on
the train which should have been at the
railroad-station on the previous evening, but
had been kept tack by the snow.
But Jacob and Roth Newell had neither
son nor daughter, grandchi'd, cousin. rela.
ton Of any nearness or rcmoteness, to ex-
pect for tho white snow covered with a
cold mantle scores Of mounds in many grave
yarls where lay their dead. And they sat
this day and thought Of all their kindred
who had pe'ished untimely, ,-all save one.
Whether he lived. or neither he had died.
where he lay buried, II buried he were, :
or where he riotcd, If still in the land Of
the living, they had no notion. And why
should they care
lie had been strong wilIed and wild lad.
He had disobcyed the ,njunctions Of his pa
rents while yet boy. He had not loved
the stiff. sad Sabbaths. nor the gloomy Sat-
urday nights. lie had rcbelled against the
austerities of Fast and Thanksgiving Days.
He had learned to play at cards and TO roll
tcnpins with the village boys He had
smoked in the tavern bar room of evenings.
In vain had his father tried to coerce him
into better ways; in vain had his mother
used all the pcr>uasions of a maternal pride
and fondness that showed themselves only.
OF all her children, to this brave, handsome,
and reckless boy. He had gone from worse
to worse, after the first outbreaking from
the strict home rules, until he had become at
length by word in the village, and anxious
mothers warned their sons against compan.
ionship with wicked Samson Newell, ,-and
this when he was only seventeen years
of age.
Perhaps inildness might have worked well
with the self -willed boy, but his father kne "
nothing but stern command and prompt obe-
dience in family management; and so the
son daily fell away, until came the inevitable
day when his wrong doing reached climax
and he left his fathers roof forever.
1t was on Thanksgiving Day, fifteen
years ago, that the boy Samson, then seven
teen years old, was brought home drunk
and bleeding. He had passed the previous
night at a ball at the tavern. against the en-
press command of his father. who would
have gone to fetch him away, but that he
could not bear to enter upon such an errand.
When the dance was over, the boy fingered
at the bar, drinking glass after glass, until
he got into f ,ht with the bully Of the vii.
lagc, whom he thrashcd within an inch ol
his life, and then he had sat down in small
sidc-room with few choice spirits, with the
avowed purpose Of getting drunk over his
victory. lie had got drunk, 'eloriously drunk
his friends at the tavern styled it, and had
been carried in that state home
Oh, the bitterness Of the misery Of that
Thanksgiving Day to Jacob Newell lie
may live hundred years and never know
such another.
The mex. day Samson awoke from a
wretched stupor to fine himself weak, ncr.
vous, and suffering from binding headache
In this condition bis father forced him to
the barn, and there with a heavy raw-hide
hog.ed him without mercy. That nigh,
Samson Newell disappeared, and was thence
forward seen no more in the village.
The same night one Of the village stores
wrenchcd open, and something over q hun
drcd dollars in specie taken therefrom. Sc
that on Samson Newelrs head rested the
crime Of tilial disobediencc, and the suspicion,
amounting, with nearly all, to certainty,
tina, he had added burglary to his othc,
wrong doing.
His name was published in the papers
throughout the country, together with q
personal description and the offer Of re-
ward for his arrest and return. But he was
never brought back nor heard Of more, the
matter gradually died away and was forgot
ten by most Of the village; the more So as,
from respect and pity for Jacob Newell, il
was scarce ever mentioned, except privately
Eight years elapsed from the time Of his
flight a..d supposed crime. when the fellow
he had thrashed at the tavern was arrested
tried, convicted, and sentenced to death fol
| murder committed in midrisht tavern
brawl. In confes ion that he made he ex.
onerated Samson Newell from an, patticipa.
ton in or knowledge of the burglary fol
which his reputation had so long suffered
stating in what manner he had himself com
mitted the deed. So the memory Of the cr
ling son Of Jacob Newell was relieved tion
the grea. shadow that had da, kened it, Still
he was never mentioned by father or mother
and seven years more rolled wcarly on, ill
they sit, to day, alone and childl"ss, by til,
Pickering November fire.
| Sore trouble had fallen on them since theil
youpge 81 son had disappeared. One by one