The Hickman courier., 1871-04-08
A TERRIBLE FATE.


4
the wanderings and discovery Of lost
boy, from Williamson county, as one Of
the many marvellous events growing out
placed in possession Of the facts of the
sad fate and misfortunes of Monigome
ry county family, ending in the sale into
slavery Of two children in n distant tor
rid and semi-ba land BY request we
withhold the name of the family, assur
! ing our readers that the circumstances
are true to the letter, and in every par
ticuar Singular and adventurous as
were the facts we gave Of the Williamson
county wanderer, the details, vicissitudes,
sufferings, and actual fate of the children
Of the family now being considered, are
more so, as partaking more Of the pain
full and heart-rendfng The sale INTO
slavery of the almond-eyed, sweet faced
and blue -veined Caucasian girl to the
llustful Mussulman, under sanction Of
his crescent banner and his Koran,
shocking as is the monstrous traffic to
the Christian world, from long usage is
Invested of many of the horrors natur-
ally attaching to it. But when it comes
to the sale, as slaves, of Tennessee chill
dren, and those, too, from an adjoining
county, reared by cultivated and refined
parents. educated and cared for, and sur
rounded by all the comforts and elegan
cies that make home q little heaven and
young life all rosy and beautiful when
| it comes to the sale of such children to
people not many removes advanced IN
civilization beyond the African Congo, il
starts the blood with indignation and
crimsons the cheek with shame. Yet
such are the facts. Before the war there
resided in Montgomery county gentle
man who was we'll known, aud who was
we'll to do. He was az educated man,
man of letters and a man of God, being
Minister of the Gospel, and one of the
principals of the leading Female Insti-
tutions of the county. His family con-
sisted of himself, his wife and two chill
dren, both daughters, the one being near
twelve aud the latter near fen years of
age. The family was happy one The
parents were esteemed as good and use
full members of society, and their chill
dren rose up and called them blessed
Thus they were situated when the civil
war, with its fierce alarms, its clang and
clash of arms, burning trophies aud rivers
of blood, burst upon US in 1861. Then
came the time
When desclation, snatching from the hand
or time the scythe of ruin, sat aloft
Or stalked in dreadful majesty abroad.
Tennessee was the banner State in
sending her braves to battle for the star
gemme9 bonny blue flag she had flung
to the breeze. Among those who gath.
cred under its folds was the minister and
gentleman referred to. He clung to il
with the devotion Of love and the fervol
of patriotism, through all the four years
of blood, and storm and thick darkness:
! that hovered about it. When at last. il
; 1866, .the star Of the young CenfedeEae,
! went out in gloom and In glory behine
the hills of Appomattax, aud the SCARED
. veterans, who had borne their banner
braye1y, returned to their wasted fields
and desolated homes, to lay down its
shattered staff forever, the heart of oui
friend sickened at the prospects of his
country's ruin, and sank within him
Though his energies were subdaed, his
proud spirit was uuconquered. While
some lion hearted Southerners, like Ster-
ling Price the iron Blucher Of the war in
the west, in the lands of the Tuscalans
and the valleys Of Cordoya, sought them
homes, some mingled as exiles in Eu-
ropes gay capitals, and others at the
tropics, where the breath of midnight
burns the sand, went fof refuge to Brazil.
Among these latter we're our Montgome-
ry friend and his family. Converting
his available assets into what ready cash
they would bring, he gathered his fami-
ly around him aud bade his "native land
adieu." Some natural tears" no doubt,
that mother aud those blooming children
shed as athey saw for the last time" the
CLASSY Cumberland, that had so peaceful
i ly flowed near their home. Perhaps the
| father. into whose soul the iron had en-
tered so deeply, like Childe Harold, cared
not what land his wanderings bore him
to. SO they brought him not back to this; /;
or. perhaps, as he cast lingering look
upon Clarksville, guarded by those he
deemed oppressors, he felt as old Jugur-
tha did, when passing out the Appian
way he looked back upon the seven
hilled city of the Tiber, and said "There
is a city to be Sold"
Whatever may have been their feel
ings, they could not have looked forward
to the sad future in store for them. Reach
| ing Southern port, our friend and his
| family, with many others, took passage
on an emigrant vessel for Brazil. Pro-
pitious gales and smooth seas soon bore
Them to the South American country,
the delusive Eden Of so many. With a
hopeful heart and stout arm, he en-
gagged with those who went as colony
| to the improvement of the locality where
they had settled, and the establishment
of home for his nestlings. Expected
rewards did not bless the labors of his
hands; the climate and its ungenial in
fluences preyed upon the health of his
family. Social surroundings were I'M
pleasant. Accustomed to scenery that
"Shenstone might envy, and to music
that would charm Calypso and hel
nymphs, . the mother and children had
been transferred to virtually barbarit
land, uncultiyated by art, unadorned BY
civilization. The surroundings were
chilling and Oppressive. Misfortunes
fell thick aud fast upon them. DISCUS
ted with the country, most of the South
eruers who went there returned home, or
went to other parts. The condition Of
our friend and his family grew from bad
to worse. Business failed utterly. All
his enterprise turned to dry ashes in his
hands. When he would have returned
to this country he could not. He be-
came hopelessly involved and was a
bankrupt.
His daughters had grown into expand
ling young womanhood and had devei-
oped into fair, elastic proportions- Aud
now comes the saddest part Of the history
Of this unfortunate family. The Brazil
| ian laws are such that whsn citizen be-
comes in debt, If he has no property, his
children are sold as slaves, the prices
they bring going to the payment Of the
! obligation. Our friend when ne reached
Brazil, unwisely became naturalized aud
South American citizen, aud subject to
the laws, thus, by his own voIition, ex.