The Cairo daily bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1870-1872, 1872-10-20
JOHN H. OBERLY, PROPRIETOR.


He proceeded forthwith to erect curl.
Gus and remarkably ugly house, with
barns, out houses, and various other
structures at cost Of thirty thousand
dollars; SO that at the time the house
was finished and furnished be had ex-
pended about half his capital. From
the picture of this house which is now
before me- I should suppose it a mira
Gle Of inconvenience and absurdity ;
and, so far from having an elegant APP
pearance, it resembles nothing so much
as those temporary wooden barracks
which are sometimes erected, in time
Of peace, outside of fortified places.
What next? II this house was un.
comfortable and inelegant, his estab-
lishment was large and expensive and
he was no more capable of extracting
livelihood from his farm than a child.
A child indeed he was in everything
but years. lie tried to experiment in
chemistry, he played the violin he
bought an electrical apparatus he col
lected books and he even tried short
sighted as he was, t. shoot game. In
this last amusement he was assisted by
his wife, who aimed the gun al the bird
and told him when to fire. He was so
afraid Of lightning that when thun-
der storm was coming up he would
shut the doors and windows and get
into bed. In short, he was one Of the
most foolish, incompetent, impractical
men that ever squandered fortune
and brought family to beggary. And
his wife, in her way, was not much
wiser than himself although abun.
dainty competent, if she had remained
at home, to shine in the sphere in
which she was born.
So passed eight years. In 1905,
Aaron Burr set on foot his famous ex-
petition for the conquest Of Mexico,
and on his way west to make prepare.
tons and to set up recruits, he became
acquainted with the Blennerhassetts.
Already they were very much embar-
assed for money, and were very much
embarrassed for money, and were far
more anxious to sell their estate than
they we're to acquire it. Burr Of
ferred him share in his dazzling en-
terprise; and probably conveyed, in
some way, TO the eager and credulous
Irishman, that when the prise had been
won, it was ! e who should represent
the empire Of Aaron | at T.. Court OF
St. James. So far as We know, Burr
practiced no deception upon him for
if there was man in the world who
more entirely believed in the feasibility
Of his Mexican enterprise than any
other man, it was Aaron Burr himself
Before the scheme was well organ
lied. as all the world knows, President
Jefferson shattered it to pieces with a
bolt no more Formidable than procla
nation. Burr was arrested and taken
% Richmond for trial Blennerhassett,
charged with completely with him, was
$50 conveyed to Richmond prisoner.
His island was overrun with wild Ohio
militia; hi. gardens trampled into
ruin his out-houses destroyed, aud
his mansion defaced. After detention
in Richmond Of many tedious and ex-
peusivc months, he was discharged, and
rejoined his family at Natchez.
He then gathered the remains Of his
property, and bought cotton planta-
ton of a thousand acres in Mississippi;
and upon it he placed few slaves.
An able man could have made for.
tune upon that virgin soil, in that
early day of the cotton culture; as, in
deed many Of his neighbors did, who
had never seen an electrical machine
and knew not note of music. 1t
was Mrs. Blennerhassett who managed
the plantation, so far as it was managed.
1t was she Who at the dawn, mounted
her horse and saw that the labors Of
the day were begun. Her exertions,
however, were not adequate to the sit.
uation, and the struggle was unsuccess-
full. His creditors being clamarous, he
offered his plantation and twenty-five
negroes for sale, after he had held
them seven years, they realized enough
to pay his debts and leave small sum
over for investment
In 1919, being tifty-four years Of age,
but more worn by misfortunes than
years, he moved to Montreal, took
partner, and tried to get into the prac
tice Of the law. The attempt not sue
ceedug, he sailed for Ireland, where
he made little attempt to recover
some estates to which he fancie he
had legal title. Then he directed
his energies to getting place under
government. Some of his old West
minister school. fellows, were now min
listers, generals, lords and dukes, and to
them he addressed letters asking them
to interest themselves in promoting his
object, to which they uniformly sent
polite replies of refusal. In 1925 he
returned to Canada but only to close
up his affairs in America, and taking,
with his wife and children, leave for
ever ola continent in which he had ex-
perieuced little but unhappiness. A
maiden sister who lived in England
had offered him a share of her cottage,
which was not very large. In this last
refuge he lived six years, and there he
died, in 1881, in his sixty-third year.
In after years, Mrs. Blennerhassett,
with nm invalid SON and herself almost