The Indianapolis leader. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1879-1890, 1880-02-14

miracle of beauty In form and feature, in
grace and modesty, she was all that the old
masters have painted the divine
Madonna, or that artist ever dreamed
of maiden loveliness. Those that saw
her loved her, yet she was never conscious
of the sentiment until she listened
Aaron Burr. The family were Catholics
and there Colonel Burr went TO meet, BY ap.
pointment, ole of his numerous agents and
correspondents, the Able Viel, Jesuit
priest of remarkable ability. He was born
in New Orleans in TAG, studied at Paris,
and became member Of the Congregation
Of Oratory. At the dissolution of that body
| by the French Government, he returned to
Louisiana, and exercised the priestly fune-
ton in the Parish of Attakapas He subse-
quently went to France. 1t is probable that
Colonel Burr, in his projected invasion of
Mexico, contemplated securing the influence
of the religious orders and for this purpose
had opened correspondence with the able,
and met him by appointment at his secluded
| homestead.
At length. after canvassing his situation
with Colonel Osmun and six other confidential
friends Colonel Burr determined to forfeit his
bond. One stormy night in February, 1907,
he set forth mounted on the favorite horse of
his host. Urgent rs was the necessity for ex-
petition, Cslonel Burr halted till daylight at
the widows cottage, imploring the beautiful
Madeline ~ be the companion of his flight.
He promised marriage, fortune, high posi-
ton, and even limited at imperial honors, not
realizing, even then, fugitive and branded
traitor, the crushing downfall that mpended
over him. The maiden had given him her
heart; she had listened to his witchery night
after night, and loved him with all the fervor
of Southern nature. She would have fol-
lowed him to the end of the earth, and TO the
scafold, and her aged mother would freely
have given her to this most captivating man
for they looked on him as demi-god-but
as with most OF our Southern women, the prin-
ciples of religion, virtue and propriety were
stronger than prepossession and passion, and
the entreaties of the accomplished libertine
were firmly rejected. Baffied and disappont-
ed he was compelled to proceed but promised
to return, and carried with him the covenant
and pledge of the beautiful Madeline She |
was wooed by many lover. The young and |
gallant masters of the large plantations on |
Second creek and st. GATHERINGS strove in |
vain for her hand. Fortunes and the homage |
of devoted hearts were laid at her feet but |
the Maid Of the Halfway Hill remained |
true TO her absent lover-the more so because |
of the rumors that reached her of his misfor |
tunes and his guilt. She lived on the recol. |
lection Of his manly beauty, and the shades |
he had most affected were her constant haunts |
At length, when he fed from the United |
States, pursued by Mr.. Jefferson and the re-
morseless agents that swarm around power |
and authority-when he had been driven |
from England, and was an Outcast IL Paris, |
shivering with cold and starving for bread
he seems to have felt for the first time the |
utter hopelessness Of his fortune, and then
he wrote TO Madeline, and in few formal
words, released her from her promise Stat
ing that he would never return to the United |
States, he advised her to enter a convent
should she survive her mother. A year or
two after this, she went to Havana with
Mrs. W., highly respectable lady, who then
owned the property where the Christian
Brothers now reside, near Natchez. Her
extreme beauty, her grace and elegance
produced the greatest enthusiasm. The hotel
where they put up was besieged. If she sp-
peared on the balcony dozen cavaliers were
waiting TO salute her. When her volante was
seen on the Pasco or the Plaza de Armas, it
was escorted by the grandees Of the Island
She was feted by the governor general; ser
enades and balls followed in rapid succession,
and the daily homage to her beauty never
ceased until the evening bell sounded the
Angeus.
Without surrendering her 6eart, or being
carried away by this universal admiration.
she returned TO the cottage on the Halfway |
hill. She was followed there by Mr.. K. an
English gentleman, the head of the largest
commercial house in Havana, and to him, on
his second visit, she gave her hand.
The vine-covered cottage, its trellises and
borders, have crumbled into dust The court
ly lover and the innocent maiden are long
since dead. But the old hill still lifts its aged |
brow, wrinlaed all over with traditions A
favorite lookout of the Natchez in time of
war-the scene of daring conspiracy against
the Spanish suthority-the rendezvous Of
lovers-the hiding place of brigands, and
depot for the blood-stained treasure-muts.
but faithful witness of the past.