Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-05-05
A "Reminiscences.

A local correspondent OF the Boston
Globe, relates this Renaissance of anti
slavery times In tie year 1849 Or
1850, Hon. Manlius Sargent, writing
over the signature of Stigma" in the
Transcript, used in one of his articles
very deprecatory language toward Rev.
Theodore Parker, because Of his advo-
cacy of the cause of emancipation. The
next day nanumitted slave, whose
wife and two children were still held In
bondage in Baltimore, and who had
been sent North with letter from their
master, stating that # the negro could
raise $500, he would free his wife and
children, called at a printing office to
have printed some copies of said letter,
which was itself somewhat il
legible. On receiving the copies
the man asked the printer if
he could send him to some benevolent
person. That gentleman, who had just
read the article in the Transcript, gave
him the address of DIR. Sargent at Arm
DRY Hall, where several wealthy gentle
men had desks and were accustomed to
meet daily, telling him to say that Mr..
Theodore Parker sent him, with the re-
quest that he would read the letter.
* Did Mr.. Parker send you to me 2"
said Mr.. Sargent. eyes, sir" said the
man, who was as ignorant of the joke
intended as he was of the name of the
party who sent him. "Well, let me
read it" said Mr.. Sargent. Then at
taching his name and putting down $40
=" there" said he, ''tell Mr.. Parker
that [ bear the slave no Ill will, but am
as willing to do something for him as he
is. But STOP" said he, s'you may come
back mere at 1 o'clock; there Will then
be three other old covies here,
and will get twenty dollars apiece
from them" He did SO, and they each
responded with like sum. The man
then called upon the printer, saying,
"GOrry, sir, can you send me to some
body else ?" Mr. Parker's address was
then given to him, with the remark that
Mr.. Sargent had sent him. Mr.. Parker
was surprised to see such names, and
under the circumstances, especially that
of Mr.. Sargent, and Immediately gave
him twenty dollars. The printer then
sent him to Wendell Phillips, and the
result of the joke for that day was $12O.
The man subsequently, obtained the
sum required, and was soon the legal
proprietor of his wife and children.
The First Steamboat.
The first steamboat paddle wheel, has
been awarded by history to Robert
Fulton, who, it is claimed, obtained his
idea from one Lytton, who formerly
conducted a museum in the city Of
Albany, n. Y, and came to this city to
di in 184S. Lytton is remembered by
several Of our old citizens as a man of
inventive genius, fine ability, and strict
integrity. He resided on FRANKLIN
street, and had two sons, who were en-
gagged in the house and sign painting
business in this city up to the time Of
the death of their father, after which
they removed to Cincinnati, Ohio.
Captain Scribe Harris, of Dubuque,
was employed BY Lytton as doorkeeper
at the Lytton Museum Of Wonders, at
Albany, N. Y, about 1926, during
which time the latter was engaged in
completing and testing the practibility
of the paddle-wheel son the Hudson
River, with the view of contesting for
the prize offered by the Legislature of
New York for the invention of an ap-
paratus that would propel vessel of
prescribed dimensions more than a GER
tain number of miles against the Hud-
son River current. It is alleged by the
friends of Lytton that some party not
in his employ, having cognizance Of his
plans reported them to Fulton, and that
the latter adopted them and put them
into use, and having capital and infu-
entail friends in the State and Legislat-
ure to back him, succeeded in obtain
ing the promised reward, as against the
claims of Lytton, who sought to estab-
lish them in court of record.
The litigation into which the unfor-
tunate inventor had been forced in
order to obtain his just dues had COM
pletely impoverished him, and leaving
the city of Albany removed to Cincin-
natl, where he subsequently established
a small museum on borrowed capital,
at the corner of Fourth and Main
streets. In 1848 he removed to Daven-
port, Iowa, and from thence to GaIena,
IN 1916, where he resided as stated,
until 1946, the year of death. A rude
board placed above his head was the
only thing that designated his final
resting place, and as that has long since
gone to decay, the exact spot where his
bones were laid is not known at the
present time. Lytton is said to have
been the first man who ever introduced
the paddle-wheel on the Ohio River.
The Condition of Persia.
The Allegemeine Zeitung gives a de-
plorable account of the condition. OF