The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-05-20
A Son of the Wealthiest Planter in the South
Convicted of q Great Crime.

A Son of the Wealthiest Planter in the South
Convicted of Great Crime.
civilian S. Calhoun, convicted of forgery
on evidence of his quadroon mistress, Olivia
Williams I"
This announcement in the Sunday papers
supplies the text for long and Instructive
moral discourse, and a very interesting chapter
of domestic history.
The Calhoun referred to above is the only
son of the late Meredith P. Calhoun, for many
years before the war the largest and most
lordly planter in the South The wife OF Mr.
Calhoun was the daughter of Judge Smith,
formerly of South Carolina, where he played a
very prominent part in the politics and So
ciety of that State. Judge Smith was one of
the most ancient and respected families in
South Carolina, and inherited large estates,
which he augmented in value by his Judgment
and enterprise. In the political arena he was
regarded as the only formidable rival of the
great John G. Calhoun. Judge Smith was the
acknowledged leader of the Union party in
the great secession fight OF 1885. Shortly after
this he removed to Huntsville, Alabama, where
he bought large estates and established himself
in an elegant residence, which was the home
of a large and generous hospitality. The
eldest daughter of Judge Smith married Mere
dith Calhoun, a young adventurer from the
North, of polished manners and good address
Mrs. Calhoun received as her dowry large
sum, which was invested in an immense tract
of the rich land on Red River, then held in
great demand as the most valuable and pro-
ductive in the State. This is the land which
embraces the greater portion of what is now
known as Grant parish 1t extends ten miles
on the river, and has been leveed at vast ex-
pense and possesses unlimited resource for the
production of cotton and sugar. Upon this
estate Mr.. Calhoun expended a very great sum,
stocking it with eleven hundred slaves, and
all the expensive structures and machinery re-
quired to produce cotton and sugar. In the
palmy days of this culture the yield of this
large investment was highly remunerative.
For several years before the war the regular
income was between S250O00 and S30O,0O0.
Having made several visits to France with
his family, Mr.. Calhoun acquired taste for
French society and habits and during the lat
ter period of his life resided in Paris Here
he expended his large income in affording his
wife and daughter every opportunity of partic-
ipating in the elegant and fashionable enjoy
ments of the gay and luxurious capital. Be-
sides his daughter, an accomplished and ele-
CANT young lady, who was born and educated
in France, so that she speaks the French Ian
guage with more facility than her own, Mr..
Calhoun had son who came into this world
partially deformed but not on that account
was regarded with less affection and tenderness
by his parents. No child was ever more care
fully and tenderly watched and cared for than
the poor little hunchback, Willie Calhoun,
Preferring to live on the plantation rather
than expose himself in the brilliant society Of
Paris, Willie did not accompany his parents
abroad Devoting himself to agricultural life,
he finally became a sort of head manager or
agent for his father. This was the condition
of the family when the war broke out. Mr..
Calhoun was residing with his wife and daugh-
ter in France and Willie had charge of the
plantation. Of course the war produced most
disastrous effects on the Calhoun estate The
destruction of the slave property alone was
enough to swamp the whole estate. Mr. CAL
houn died about the close of the war, and the
widow had given her power of attorney to
Willie. In 1868 she returned with her daugh
ter to Louisiana, and proceeded on steam
boat to the landing now known as Colfax, with
a view of seeing her son and investigating the
condition of her affairs. Her mind had been
greatly disturbed by rumors of her sons ''car-
ryings on" from old servants and others.
Among other stories which had reached her
was one to the effect that he had become a
practical as we'll as political miscegenation-
ist-that he had been elected by an exclusive
negro vote to the Legislature, and had formed
a liaison with buxom quadroon who claimed
to be his lawful wife, and who assumed all the
airs and authority of the lady of the Calhoun
mansion.
1t may be imagined with what crushing force
Al. f,lI fho do kho
high-born mother. Whether it was from the
warning, Mrs Calhoun, after q brief conversa-
ton with some of her old servants at the river
landing, came to the conclusion not TO expose
sons degradation and the profanity of the
family mansion, so with her daughter she re-
turned on the boat to the city, and procuring
board for herself and daughter at the Bay Of
St. Louis, sojourned there for some months
Here Mrs Calhoun died in the summer of
1868, leaving her daughter alone in the world,
moneyless and almost friendless. Nothing
could be got from the estate. 1t had been
hopelessly involved by Willie.
Miss Ada had been nurtured with boundless
indulgence. She had never known what it was
to want anything which money could COM
mand; and here was she, totally inexperienced,
an orphan thrown upon the world, from po-
sition of long-assured wealth and high rank,
with no other relative but brother, who was
now her most bitter enemy; but the young
lady proved equal to her great emergencies.
1t would perhaps be an intrusion upon her
private affairs to refer to shifts and expedients
to which she was driven to regain her fortune,
and to save her from the miseries of a poverty
which would be tenfold bitter to one reared as
she had been.
Suffice it to say that with the aid of zeal
GUS and persevering young lawyer, she has
been placed beyond the reach of the perils so
much feared by her, and we sincerely hope
her fortunes are in fair train to restoration,
and that her future will realize the old dra-
matte climax of "virtue rewarded and vice
punished"
And surely this conviction Of the bad broth
er for forgery would seem to fill the last condi
ton of dramatic and poetic justice. After
II