The Hickman courier., 1874-08-28
SAM HOUSTON.
How He Resigned the GOvernorAhip of
Tennessee, FOrsOOk His Beautiful Wife
and Joined the Cherokee Indians.


| see, and his 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 bad been the
warm personal friend of the hero of
San Jacinto, I made a mental note of 1t
/. for the benefit of the Times readers.
'' You see," said the old gentleman
Freferred to, '' Houston and were en-
sloyed in a store together at Kingston,
East Tennessee, when we we're boys.
That was about 1912. The next year he
enlisted as a private in the army and
marched Oft to the Greek war. He was
Caon made an ensign, and was the first
<&scale the works at the battle of the
ks,.nSspe, when he was shot twice in
= ,ome and finally got we'll,
- - inted sub-agent to the
y sa1llo.s--lssa-seeE.ue cot .isto
3as removed. Then he
49, sHville in 1918. He began
Nv with Judge Trimble, and in
-. months time was 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. xogg,
who was one of the most prominent
and scholarly lawyers 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 noted desperate
of st. Louis VINO 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
icallY, and III order to carry out this
scheme married, in January, 1929, a
lady belonging to very influential
family at Gallatin, thirty miles north
of Nashville. She was very hand
some, brilliant young lady, and at
tracted great attention wherever she
went, w,&ss exasperated Houston, who
was of ee, jealous disposition.
used to- Rn frequently and knew
that hs married purely through
p0litie bns, and soon saw that his
dOmes a was an unhappy one.
"O turday in April I met him at
a big &cue Just west of the city,
whers and Carroll both made
spec saw that the feeling of
ting kas all in his favor, and told
hi caused him to be in the
ve H. spirits, and while in that
N = parated. Monday morning
~ the Nashville inn, where he
auG5 ,...fe had been boarding since
their marriage, but 1 was refused ad
mittance to his room. [ persisted,
however, and was finally admitted 10y
Shelby. found Houston lying on the
6sd 9Th .I his .. dace& & &s2yeEsfa5 f5. uR aRga ia
father had come down from Gallatin for
her the day before, and that she had |
left her husband and returned to the |
home of her childhood.
"Said I, General what's this hear?"
sAaaid he, I'm a ruined man I'm a |
ru - man"
"I told him he owed it to his friends |
to giVN explanation for his conduct, |
and 4 i'm why he and his wife sep
arated which lie replied that he |
hadn't brd to say against his wife |
that S as a high-minded, virtuous |
"Hey aid that he alone was to |
blame ae had decided to exile |
himself the Cherokee Indians, |
and that~yanted me to carry his res
ignation as governor to the secretary of |
state. This 1 emphatically refused to |
do. at first, but at his earnest solicita. |
ton and that of DR.. Shelby, finally |
consented.
"' The next morning, Houston, Shelby |
and 1 went aboard a 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 he 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 Cherokee by the name of Jul |
ly. 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 delegation of |
Indians, on his way to Washington. / |
recognized him, but wouldn't speak to |
him. The fact is, his friends here con-
sidered he had disgraced them, and |
were disgusted with him. While in
Nashville he went with his delegation |
and called on Gen. Jackson at the Her
mitage."
"And how did Jackson treat him ?"
asked.
81 don't know, but I suppose he
treated him all right, as they had been
great friends. After reaching Washing
ton, know he whipped a member of
6n6s by the name of Stansberrv for
Z. ething disrespectful of Jack
lis, we heard nothing more
ION until just before the Mexi-
can war, when we heard that he had
gone to San Augustine to practice law
You know his connection with the Mex
lean war, probably, as well as l do"
"He married again, believe? ?"
eyes. His wife got a divorce, and
he married Mobile lady, and she made
a man of him. They visited Nashville
together, and L went with them to see
Jackson at the Hermii age, twelve miles
from the city His first wife married
again, and is now living near Nashville,
upless she has died recently. Nash
viLLe Cor. Chicago Times.
The Slave Trade of the Nile.