Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1869-01-13
The Case OF Commodore Meade-Let-
fer from Charles K. Landls.
To the Editors Of the Evening foSt;
uThst have ta,en away this old mans daughter,
It is most true; true have married her;
The very head and front OF my offending

of the case of Commodore Meade, and as my
own name has been made more prominen
than the truth of the circumstances fairly
admit; in short, "that / had Commodore
Meade arrested upon a criminal charge, anC
that, when he could not be held upon tina
charge, had him inearcerated in a lunatit
asylum upon the certificates of two Toomb'
physicians" l beg the liberty of setting my
self right before the public. have heard
of men in olden times, attacking castles anC
taking their wives by force. / have heard
of their taking them out of third-story win.
dows, and have also heard of their quietly
walking away and getting married but
never heard before, either in history or fc
ton, of man first combining his intended
father-in in law in lunatic asylum, and then
Immediately marrying his daughter, and
am not ambitious to be the one to set such
a precedent.
| first met my wife at the Commodore s
own house, in Washington, last January
was then told that i was worth as much as a
mans life to pay any attention to his daugh-
tiers. From number of suitors who had
been actually driven away by force of arms,
upon further inquiry, / ascertained this to
be the fact When l had decided to pro-
pose to my wife, / sent formal notice TO
him and request for his consent. His
answer to this was peremptory order to
desist from all attentions to his daughter,
reiterated in another letter threatening Sc
rious consequences in case / continued these
attentions, and explaining the grounds of
his objections as follows: First, my age
second, my religion, and third, being an ut
ter stranger
Being at the time thirty -four years old,
was at a loss whether he meant that | was
too young or too old. l did not care about
adopting any new religion; and being fully
his equal in birth and education, and hav-
ing lived for eleved years upon my own es-
tates in New Jersey, "with my banner on
the outward wall" / could not possibly
sympathize with the last objection
In respect to the last letter, ] consulted
his son, Lieutenant Commander r. w.
Meade, Father Franciol, of Brooklyn, for
merly his priest, Admiral Hiram Paulding,
the father law of two of his sons, Chas.
A. Meigs, of New York, his brother-in law,
and other members of his family, and they
all advised me to pay no attention to it,
chat the Commodore was suffering under
alteration of mind, and had been in this
state for some time"
This fully believe, as l knew that the
Commodore had suffered great injustice
from the Government in being uniustly kept
out of claim, amounting, l believe, to mil
lions of dollars, even after the legality and
justice of the claim had besn fully establish
ed, and also that from some personal jeal-
ousies he had suffered injustice in his court
martial for the loss of the San Jacinto, and
had not been awarded the rank and promo
ton which he deserved, which, to an officer,
is worse than death. The letter itself was
incoherent
After this / was informed that the Com
modore was watching around the Staten
Island ferries that he might shoot me at the
first opportunity. l continued my atten-
lions as before, and would have blushed at
The thought of anything like personal dan
ger influencing my conduct. For some time
my marriage was appointed to
AXE place on the 18th Of October, at the
residence of my wife's uncle, Charles A.
Meigs, of Staten Island. A few DAYS be-
ore l received a warning that the mind of
he Commodore was disturbed, and that he |
would certainly shoot me in case he saw
me-. decided, however, that upon the 18th |
If October would cross the ferry in open |
daylight, and in an open carriage and |
tand any amount of shooting that was ne |
,essary. / felt that men had often risked |
heir lives for objects less worthy than
nine. On the 14th ] crossed the ferry safe |
y in company with my father, my sister, |
md my chief secretary, Mr.. John L. Burk,
md arrived at the residence of Mr. Meigs |
Lieutenant Commander r. W. Meade |
informed me that they had |
melancholy task the preceding |
tay-that Of placing the Commodore in the /
3loomingdale Asylum; that for months |
vast he had been threatening different peo-
lie that he had threatened the lives of Mr..
B. F. COrlies, Mr.. Meigs, Secretary Wells,
# the navy, and his own; that upon his
person several revolvers had been found,
nd four more revolvers in his valise, and
hat he had gang of "roughs' engaged to
ommit violence upon myself in crossing
he ferry. Instead of this being done in
rider to promote my marriage, it was done
My from motives of humanity, and it was
expected that upon such terrible occur
ence in the family, would postpone the
marriage or break it off. The family was also
+ this disposition. | requested, however,
hat the marriage should take place Ny
was not responsible for this heart
ending misfortune, and besides, if she had
Ost her beauty or met with any ether mis-
Ortune, or if all the family had suddenly
ecame lunatics, l would have been only
he more anxious to have the right and the
over to protect her. l married her, thank
tOd, and with His help mean to stay mar
led, and shield her all her life from every
vii that may threaten
My marriage has received the approba-
ion of every member of my wife's family
keeping the Commodore. Relative TO the
confinement, l had no hand
D it ; nor had my wife; nor did know Of
before the morning of my marriage But
have seen letters from Secretary WelIes,
the navy, and from General George d.
leade and others, approving of the confine-
lent of the Commodore, upon the ground /
humanity, and expressing surprise that
has not been done long before.
The Commodore was placed in confne-
lent by his son, Lieutenant Commander
w. Meade, who is now in the Pacific
cean in command of the United States
,eamer Saginaw, and consequently, he was
OF present at the trial in New York, but
as simply represented by counsel.
If the Commodore has recovered his
ealth, there is no one more pleased by it (
ian myself, or who will wish him better ,
ealth or longer life.
CHARLES K. LANDS.
Fineland, n. j., Dec. 10, 1868.
A Card from Commodore Meade.