St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1863-11-05
TAE HORRORS OF slAyERv.


2 Forty years agoa wealthy planter came
from Florida or Louisiana, to reside in
Washington for u: time: bringing with
him sou, 6se manly boy Of thirteen OF
f urteen. At tho isvees Of. hia father.
"hi h were then fashionable, lie received
he caresses If the ladies' and The enicoufi
81 mcnt Of the gentlemen that bis age
'"' diligence and his fathers position nat
ural!y olicitea, Of his family, none &C:
tompanicd his father besides this son, in
his visits to Washington: In due course
: It time tie boy, on whom his fathers af:
'ttctions were evidently centered, was SELL
:>orth, and. was there educated, "gradua.
lug at Harvard or Yale, with an honor;.::
bic standing in his class. On bis return
~ this city, he avGwed love f5r the
North, acquired during his college life.
~ hich was not restaiDcd in its expression:
oy his father, who fostered and encour-
aged it zealously, and readily consented
10 his permanent residence there. IL.
desired however, that his son; should re
uain with him here during bis own stay
An appointment Was procured for him a.
clc'k i'll the War department, and h,
entered upop its duties.
Among the acquaintances formed at
this time was gentle man from Pennsyl-
van;a and the chief clerk Of the bureau
h. wat the father: Of a girl yet in her
teens, lovable in character, as we'll as very
beautiful. Intimacy bega; friendship.
and it was hardly matter of wonder tha,
pve should follow. With the blessings oi
Ill they were married at St. Johns
:hurch in this city, it happening to b,
about the first marriage that ever took
Lace there and even ow the long rows
Il carriages, tho 1air danes and rich at.
ire, the music, the crowded parlors, the
e.dor and joy which crowned tho we'd
ding, are vividly depicted by those who
;rc;lsule the chronicles Of society IN those
days.. u
The young mans father had bought
a.d furnished an elegant house for h 3
children, and, they rcmosed at once to
lie + own establishment. Not long after
3he marriage, and while in the full tide of
hal piness, the; luther was called home, and
,e,. his son an daughter, intending soon
to return They received no II lligencc
from him for week after week, which caus-
ed them anxiety, daily increasing to alarm
At last, one day when the son had just
decided to 90 in search Of his father, a
carriage dashed up TO the door, young
man jumped out, and, followed, by the
sheriff If the distr ct, walked into the
War Department, and bef"re all his eonl-
pan:ons, in the broad light If noon, ar
rested the son as the slave Of hie father.
The son solemnly declared that his faith.
er had manumitted him, and that he had
seen the will long since in which it had
Teen done This outra &c shocked the
sensibility Of even an etfete slave commu-
nifty. Mr.. Monroe, then President, aud
OF ers high in power, used all the argu-
ment. all the entreaty tongue could utter,
offered money with' u stint, for the ran.
som of one whom all loved and esteemed,
and whose condition, to that hour, no one
ha dreamed. But the young man, pos
so>Scu VI AiA pO"cl. LII eHe ';docs dHu su0
son Of an enraged family, Knocked them,
't,ld them that money was no object, a,gu-
m mt and entrcuty alike unavailing.-
What he now obtained Was revenge, Of
which nothing should foil him. The faith
er had met with sudden death, the will
had been either concealed or destroyed,
aud his pet son, in all appearance Of Sax
on BIRTH with the exception Of slight
swarthiness commun to all natives of the
extreme South, was taken, chained as u
slave, his house and furniture sold, and
accompanied by his beautiful heartbro-
ken wife, faithful. and unialtcring in this
living death, from the fashionable circles
ef Washington society, carried to the
.'plantation," to toll in sk,very, beneath
the in :uriated lash ola vindictive family
Mr. Monroe assured him that situa-
ton should be given him if he could prove
his manum,ssion or escape. .. ..
>, tie never afterwards was heard from in
this district, for, as Napoleon said of con-
vents, ''the terrible mysteries Of slave prs
ons perish unresealed' ,i7r,. Z. Il
: &c 7---cI- 80 p,O -I.:-.-------1 :..r4