The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-10-12
Loss Of the h. J. Camgbell--
Mother and DaugERteP~-N ROa
nance i'm Court.

MOtKAeF nM0 SAAGGE~"9t 400
nance i'm Court
We copy the following from the St.
Louis Dispatch
The following intensely interesting
case will soon be brought before the
Supreme Court of Missouri. The sub
stance Of the outline is taken from atti-
davits now on file in the court, and is
only n of a million proofs that truth
is much stranger than fiction:
On the twenty-third of September,
1868, the steamboat Robert J. Campbell.
bound down to New Orleans, was at
tackled by gucrillas at Milikcn's Bend,
some twenty miles above Eicksburg,
and burned about daylight in the morn
ing. There was a long list OF passen-
gers on board, some forty or fifty of
whom unhappily persisted in the flames
or in the no less dark flowing river.
Among the passengers was ii Mrs. ).
j. Cooley. q widow, with her two beau
tiful, intelligent children-a bow AGED
eight and a girl aged six wears. They
had all become favOriteS with those on
board, and when the firing commenced
from the Bend, it was remarked that
none on board exhibited greater hero
ism than the woman, even when the
CONSERVATION was at its height.
At daybreak the L. j. Cambell took
fire, and in Il few moments was envel-
Oped in consuming flames. Mrs. Cooley,
with great presence of mind, rushed
from the cabin deck down with her
children to the f~Orccastle, and from
that superior point. of safety refused to
move. At length the steam pipe cx-
plOded. and she either jumped into the
river or was forced in by the explosion
OF the rush of the people, wild with cx-
element, seeking any means of escape.
Among those grouped near her ut the
time by the capstan were a numberOfOld
boatmcn, including Captain Rcardon, a
well known river man, who found him
self in the river swimming for life, and
near to him little Jennie Cooley, who had
been released or torn from the grasp
OF her mother i'll the fearful struggle of
the proceeding moment. Captain
Rcardon seized the child and boldly
struck out for shore. \ lady, the wife
OF a federal officer from Alton Illinois,
at this moment threw herself on Cap
tam ReardOn, who soon began ~tOrcalize
the danger to all. In this emergency a
brave mate named James O'Brien, see
ing the captains danger, swam up. cry
ing out, give me the child and save
the woman if you can"
Captain ReardOn at once surrendered
the child to OBrien, who, after drifting
for a mile and Il half, succeeded in max
ing the shore on the Mississippi side
with his charge. lie resigned the
child to Major Robinson, of the federal
army, reporting that he saw the mother
and the other child go down. He took
passage on the general Anderson,
bound up the river, and from that time
until September IS, 1872, O'Brien has
not been heard of.
Mrs. Cooley was saved, but the boy
forced from her in the dreadful strug-
gle for life wasdrowned. heremained
III the vicinity of the wreck fOrthreed DAYS.
hoping, watching for some tiding of her
lost ones; but none came, and she went to
Vicksburg, where, by the kindness of
the Young Mems Christian Association
she was supplied with suitable clothing
and provided with a passage to New
Orleans.
Major Robinson retained the child in
camp several weeks, and then, on a
leave OF absence, took Jennie with hipl
to his home in Ohio, where he placed
her under the care of his mother. On
the majors return to his regiment Rev
J: 3. Finley, a Presbyterian minister
visited the R0binsOns in Ohio, and, be-
coming interested in the child, at lengtl
asked permission to adopt her. The ap-
peal was granted, and Mr. Finley took
little Jennie Cooley with him to- hi,
home in Palmyra, in this State, and in
every way treated her with the love OF
his own child, which has been as fondly
returned by Jennie as to a parent. II
short, she had found "hOme, SWEEP
home"
In the mean time, Mrs. Cooley
mOurned for her children but in the
course of a year from that dreadful,
night she married DR.. Terry, one Of
the most prominent physicians in New
Orleans, in which city she has evel
since lived.
In last September James O'Brien me
Mrs. Terry in New Orleans, and recog
nizing her from that night. spoke to he7
Of her child. O'Brien had ascertaineG
the name and residence of Major Rob
insOn when he surrendered the child
This information he gave to Mrs. Terry
and, the clue taken, Mrs. Terry went f
Ohio, saw the RObinsons, and from
thence to BroOktield, where the Rev
Mr.. Finley now is, and where she me,
her child after nine years of separation
The child, now a girl Of seventeen
years, did not recognize the mother
but remembered the circumstances o
their separation in the water and DIES
cribed them with painful m~inuteness.
Mrs. Cooley demanded the child
whom Mr.. Finley refused to give up
Finding it impossible under the cir
cumstances to reclaim her daughter
Mrs; Cooley at once returned to St
Louis with her sister, Mrs. Turner, o
this city, and Mrs. Casper Link, o
Paris, Illinois, who had attended he
for the purpose of more thorough,
identifying the child. The case wa
placed in the hands Of Nj. J. R. Clai
borne, and a petition for a writ o
habeas corpus, accompanied by the ne
cessary affidavits, viii be filed tO-da,
by him in the Office of the clerk of tn,
Supreme Court, returnable in the coming
week, when all the witnesses will b
present and the case determined.
NEW ADVERTISEMENTS.