The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-08-28
SAM HOUSTON.

The true story of Sam Houston's res
ignation of the governorship of Tennes-
see, and mis- joining the Cherokee Indi-
ans in Arkansas, has never yet been
published, and when I heard it a few
days since from the lips of a gray haired
resident of Nashville who had been the
warm personal friend of the hero of
San Jacinto, made mental note of it
for the benefit of the Times readers.
You see, /" said the old gentleman
referred TO, i" Houston and were en-
ployed in a store together at Kingston,
East Tennessee, when we were boys.
That was about 1872. The next year he
enlisted as private in the army and
marched OF to the Creek war. He was
soon made an ensign, and was the first
to scale the works at the battle of the
Horseshoe, when he was shot twice in
the right arm.
"He came home and finally got well,
and was appointed sub-agent to the
Cherokee Indians, but he soon got into
a quarrel with Calhoun, then secretary
of war, and was removed. Then he
came to Nashville in 1918. He began
to study law With. Judge Trimble, and In
six months time Eyas admitted to the
bar. At the first session of the legisla-
ture after he was elected attorney gen.
eral of the state, over Francis B. Fogg,
who was one of the most prominent
and scholarly 1awy ers in the state.
He was then sent to congress, where
he was a warm jackson man, and while
there he had a difficulty with John T.
Irwin, and when they both came back
to Nashville Irwin challenged him, send
ing his challenge by a noted desperate
of st. Louis who had killed several
men. He was not considered a gentle
man, and Houston wouldn't take a
challenge through him. Gen. White
heard this and made some remarks
about Houston, which led to duel be-
tween Houston and White, in which
White was seriously wounded.
"This added to the popularity of
Houston, and he was elected governor
of the state in 1927. He had succeeded
Governor Carroll, who was a very pOpu-
lar man, and who was spoken of prom
inently as q candidate for reelection.
Houston was afraid of him, and in Or
der to secure his own reelection to con-
gress in case Carroll beat him for COVER
nor, began to strengthen himself polit
icalIy, and in order to carry out this
scheme married, in January, 1929,
lady belonging to a very Influential
family at Gallatin, thirty miles north
of Nashville. She was a very hand
some, brilliant young lady, and at
tracted great attention wherever she
went, which exasperated Houston, who
was of a morOse, Jealous disposition. 1
used to see him frequently and knew
that he had married pun ely through
political reasons, and soon saw that his
domestic life was an unhappy one.
"One Saturday in April 1 met him at
a big barbecue just west of the city,
where he and Carroll both made
speeches. I saw that the feeling of
that crowd was all in his favor, and told
him SO, which caused him to be in the
very best of spirits, and while in that
mood we separated. Monday morning
I called at the Nashville inn, where he
and his wife had been boarding since
their marriage, but I was refused ad-
mittance to his room. I persisted,
however, aud was finally admitted 10y
Shelby. I found Houston lying on the
bed with his face covered up, and, In
answer to my astonished inquiries, DR..
Shelby told me that Mrs. Houston's
father had come down from Gallatin for
her the day before, and that she had
left her husband and returned to the
nome OI uCI CulluuOOOs
"SaidI, General what's this hear?"
"Said he, I'm a ruined man I'm a
ruined man -
"I told him he owed it to his friends
to givesome explanation for his conduct,
and asked him why he and his wife sep
arated, to which he replied that he
hadn't word to say against his wife
that she was a high-minded, virtuous
lady.
HE then said that he alone was to
blame; that he had decided to exile
himself among the Cherokee Indians,
and that he wanted me to carry his res
ignation as governor to the secretary of
state. This I emphatically refused to
do, at first, but at his earnest sOlicita-
tion and that OF DR.. Shelby, I finally
! consented.
'' The next morning, Houston, Shelby
! and I went aboard q steamboat, Hous-
| ton being disguised SO that no one re-
| cognized him. We bade him goodbye,
| and he went down the Cumberland. He
! told me afterward that ne got as far as
| Napoleon, Ark, without being recog-
| nized, and in that case, he begged the
man to say nothing about meeting him.
| He went on to Fort Smith, where he
| Joined a Cherokee by the name Of Jul
IL. whom he had been familiar with
while he was agent for the tribe. He
assumed the Indian dress, painted his
face, and could not be distinguished
from them.
GA few years afterward he passed
through Nashville, with a delegation o1
Indians, on his way to Washington.
| recognized him, but wouldn't speak tC
him. The fact is, his friends here con
sidered he had disgraced them, and
we're disgusted with him. While il
Nashville he went with his delegation
and called on Gen. Jackson at the Her
mitagp."
land how did Jackson treat him ?"
asked.
81 don't know, but I suppose h,
treated him all right, as they had beel
great friends. After reaching Washing
ton, know he whipped a member o
congress by the name of Stansberry fol
saying something disrespectful OF Jack
son.
g After this, we heard nothing NOR
Of Houston until just before the Mex
can war, when we heard that he haC
gone to San Augustine to practice law
You know his connection with the Mex
lean war, probably, as well as do.
? ne married again. 4 D0i
Z" Yes. His wife got a divorce, ant
he married a Mobile lady, and she mad
a man of him. They visited Nashvill
together. and went with them to se
I jackson at the Hermii age, twelve mile
from the city His first wife maTrlet
! again. and is now living near Nashville
uRIess she has died recently. Mash
ville Cor. Chicago Times.
IT MAY seem strange, but 1t IS never
theless true, that alcohol, regularly az
I piled to a thrifty farmers stomach, wi
. .nr,noza the hoaraa from hia fence IE