Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-05-08
Thursday Evening. May 8, 1879.
MRS. TOWNSEND'S TROUBLES.
The EventfuI Life of a Southern Woman
---Her Disappearance.

San Francico Chronicle
The Chronicle of Monday an
nounced the mysterious disappearance
on Saturday last of Mrs. Annie Kline
Townsend and her daughter Maud.
AS no trace of either has yet been
found, and as there is only too much
reason for her friends to fear that she
sought suicide as a relief from long
pressing and apparently irremediable
temporal difficulties, and caused her
little daughter to share her fate, a
brief retrospect of her rather remark
able life, and a statement of the causes
that led to what is feared has been
the sad conclusion of it, will be found
of interest. Her maiden name was
Annie Kline, and she was born near
Eioksburg, Mississippi, being the
daughter of Ninion Kline, an ex-
~ceptionally wealthy cotton planter,
and the very type of the patriciall,
h%ospitable Southerner of the ante
bellum days. Miss Annie was raised
with every possible surrounding that
devoted parental love could suggest
and bOundless wealth supply. During
the wal she was once visiting friends
in Vicksburg during the Federal oc-
cupation Of the city. She was the
typical highbred, beautiful and enthu-
siastic Southron, and in her devotion
to the cause of her State she made
her way from the city with a detailed
plan of its Notifications, and with
important dispatches concealed on her
person. She was captured, the papers
discovered, and after leng imprison-
ment she was tried by court-martial,
convicted as a spy and sentenced to be
shot. The Federal General Dana
offered to pardon her if she would
disclose the names of the persons by
whom she had been intrusted with
the papers.
THE NAUGHTY SOUTHERN BEAUTY
turned on the General and defantly
told him, You have il in your power
to murder me, but not to make me
murder the friends that trusted me.
Execute the sentence" The sentence
undoubtedly would have been exc
cuted but for the strenuous efforts of
Breyet Majors General G. P. Gooding.
who finally succeeded in having her
pardOned and freed. But this ex-
perience did not deter her from
further efforts to help the Confed-
eracy, and so we'll known was she for
her desperate partisanship that at the
time of the assassination Of Lincoln
she was accused of being an accom-.
plice, Notwithstanding that she was
then in Georgia, and a company of
cavalry was ordered to effect her ar
rest. A warning of the order was
conveyed to her. She was utterly in
nocent Of this charge, but in the ex-
element she believed she had urgent
reason to fear punishment before she
could establish her innocence, and
leaping on q horse she fed through
the night. She concealed herself aud
horse during the days and travelled
Olly at nights until she reached the
borders Of an extensive swamp. Into
this she penetrated, and in it remained
safely concealed, Notwithstanding the
search made for her, maintained in
fJod by trusty cOlored people till her
friends had established the fact that
she had had nothing whatever to do
with the terrible crime. Her father
was utterly ruined by the war, and the
daughter, having been married to
William Townsend, came to San
Francisco. Dir. Townsend had long
been an invalid, and about two
years ago Mrs. Townsend, who was
VERY ACCOMPLISHED LADY,
and had a pronounced talent for paint.
ing aud modelling, determined to turn
her requirements to account. She
started a manuGctory of artificial
French flowers at tho corner of Geary
and LeavenwOrth streets, and was so
successful that she had scot estab-
lished a business which Melted her a
profit of $3.50 monthly. But the dis
asters that had pursued her from her
youth up had not forgotten her. la
July, 1877 when riot was afoot from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, a Chinese wash
house adjoining Nrs. Townsend's fac
tory was sacked by tho mob and fired,
aud, the FIRE extending 10 The house of
Mrs. Townsend, it was burned 10 the
ground. with all her material and
utensils. her furniture aud clothing.
the husband and wife and little child
barely escaping through the throng
with their lives. She retained an
attorney to prosecute her claim against
the city for $500, but he neglected 10
institute suit within the year pre-
scribed by the statute, and the claim
was consequently barred. She then
endeavored to have the supervisors
acknowledge the justice of her claim.
No action having been taken in the
matter, she finally retained Messrs.
Lightfoot a. Carter as her attorneys in
place Of the dereliet one. Upon the
representations Of Mr.. Lightfoot to
the Judiciary committee, it reported TO
the board, recommending that the
statute Of limitations be not pleaded
in bar Of actions for damages result
ing from the July riots, as the suits
ought 10 be heard on their merits. and