The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1866-04-17
THE DAILY EMPIRE.
A War Romance---FictiOn in the
Shade.
H. n. ROBINSON,
PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR.

II SL. LOUIS paper gives us tne following |
war romance, and indorses II as AN actual |
occcurrence
In the summer of 1859 Charles Geroux
became graduate of u college in the South !
ern pSrt OF this State. He was the desccn-
dant of an arlstocratlc family who lived In
Louisiana, and to be brief he was then
full embodiment of the 'chlvalry." Just
having entered his majority. While attend
ing college he had formed the acquaili-
tance of Clara c.. who attended a coll
| lege for young ladies In this city, which
acquaintance ripened into attachment and
love, and Just before the breaking out of the
rebellion they were married and removed
South. Miss c., was an orphan. possess
sed OF considerable property, which was
heldin trust by her uncle, n Southern min
| ister, who had raised her from infancy, and
personally superintended her education. In
addition to the endowments of collegiate
education. she was possessed of a strong
| character, bordering almost on the mascu-
line, but tempered with sweetness and
mildness not often combined In the same
person. She was at once handsome and
| womanly.
Within year after their marriage and
settlement In the South, came the fierce
wild blasts OF war from Sumter's parapet
and there was none more ready to enter the
deadly fray than Charles GerouX. His po-
litical tutors were practical secessionists,
and he entered upon the war with n fervor
/ and Zeal TO command the admiration of his
friends, and which secured him Majors
commission. His wife opposed his mad
scheme with all the power of q woman's
eloauence. but to no avail. She openly es-
polised the cause of the Union, and stead
iastly refused TO cooperate with her new
friends and neighbors. Notwithstanding
| her love for the old flag, and open Union
ism, her husband loved her, and while hor
husband was at home the neighbors re-
Il spected her. GerUuX invested all his ready
property. which included his wife's for
tune. In confederate bonds, placed them in
her hands, gave her "A kiss for short fare
we'll assuring her that the war would soon
be over, and. marching at the head of
victorious column of his country's defend
ers, she would be proud to welcome him.
After his departure, her treatment by his
relatives and neighbors became almost in
tolerable because of her hatred of seces.
sion.
After two years Of service in the confed-
crate army, he was captured prisoner. by
the victorious Sherman in his march to At
lanta. and sent to Camp Douglas
This was good news to his wife, who
could no longer endure the prosecutions she
received at the South, and she resolved to
make her way North and rejoln him in his
prison home. and If she could not secure his
pardon, to ut least stay near him. Her con-
federate bonds were worthless, and she was
penniless. She made her way to the Mis-
sissippi River, and took passage on the ILL
fated steamer Sutana for the North. She
sold some jewelry for money sufficient to
carry her to Chicago. Arriving at Mem
phis, her child was taken very III, and by
the advice of the Captain of the Sultana, she
remained there to secure medical aid for the
child. Within twenty-four hours thereaf-
ter the boiler Of the Sultana exploded and
twelve hundred lives were lost.
Geroux Jared Ill ut ease In Camp Douglas,
and made many stratagems to escape. He
finally succeeded in bribing raw sentinel
to let him pass, and to avoid pursuit re-
sort to deception became necessary. a
{ eomrade of HIS was ON the point of death.
. His mess dressed the dead soldier In the
! Majors uniform and conveyed him TO the
dead-house, and gave his name as "Major
Chas. Geroux, Sd Louisiana Regiment, G.
Z s. A." The next morning the body was
r taken away and buried, and the rank, name,
9 regiment and place OF burial were duly re-
, corded in the register OF Camp Douglas
. dead, by C. ii. Jordan, the undertaken for
the Government at Chicago. That night
Geroux escaped. His absence created no
inquiry, az he was reported dead. For the
b purpose of avoiding public roads and con-
: veyances, he took horse from pasture
! near Camp Douglas belonging to j. l..
L Hancock, formerly President of the Board
of Trade Of Chicago, and by avoiding pub
lie roads as much rs possible, reached Mo-
K mence the next day. His actions excited
suspicion, and he was arrested on suspicion
$ of having stolen the horse aud was lodged
i In the Kankakee jail. He was taken out on
writ of hdbeas corpus and no proof being
l. found to hold him, he was discharged.
Coming thence TO this city he obtained q
: situation In wholesale grocery house.
After the usual delays In passing letters
4 through the lines, he learned that his two
/ brothers were killed In the battle of the
Wilderness that his fathers estate had
a been coniiscated to the United States Gov
:. ernment, and his father had voluntary ex-
o lied shimself to Mexico. or his wife and
child, the only information was that they
= had sought 10 get North, and took passage
on the Sultana, since which they had not
been heard of and no doubt remained that
they had pershed. His true position had
u been studlously concealed, and he avoided
his former acquaintances. Shortly after lac
. received this Intelligence from the South,
i. Sherman started on his grand march from
. Atlanta, and Grant marshaled his grand
Z army before Petersburg, and the Confeder-
i ate States army vanished almost as vision.
i During the past summer Geroux returned
{ TO the South, and was fully confirmed In
Z the information he had received about his
family, and that his real estate had also
been conhscated. lie gave his wife and
child up rs lost, and returaed TO Cincin-
natl. aullN DIES
After his wife and child had remained IN
y Memphis and escaped the disaster of the
Sultana, she started for Chicago and reached
\ Camp Douglas. Impatient ut any delay
I she fastened there with expectations high
d TO meet him who was dearer 10 her than
| life. The reader can picture 10 himself the
agony OF this sad wife. A stranger, desti-