The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1881-09-29
A SMOOTH MILLION.
Left by an Irishman to a North
Alabama Family.
Huntsville Indepentens.l

Huntsville Independent
The whirligig oftime brings stranger
things to pass than fiction can create
were her very soul at stake. 1t happen!
sometimes, (rarely it is true, bat Otter
enough to remind proud American
that his blood was not always flowing
on this side of the Atlantic) that deal
beloved ~ ancestor on t'other side o.
the yasty passes off the hooks and leaves
his filthy savings for his American kil
to spend in their own select stylel The
latest beneficiary of such good fortuns
is one John Henry (or Harvey Elliott,
known in more ways than one to the
good people of North Alabama. It is
said that venerable Dubliner died re-
Gently and left in coffee pot or else
where bonds, notes and sovereigns to
the value of two hundred and fifty
thousand pounds-more.than an oily
million. The attorney of this old salt
advertised for information of one Eli
oft who landed at Charleston, s. c., of
early days and took to wife one Miss
1 Call.-The newspaper notice after many
kbuffetIngs, found its way into the ''dark
corner" of Limestone county in a wrap
per which encompassed pint flask, the
inner walls of which flask were laved
with first-class article of white whis-
ky. No sooner had the only remaining
eye of J. =. Elliott fallen upon the ad-
vertisement than he exclaimed t'Great
DeliVerer," and opening the lid of his
trunk he found, without difficulty, a
copy of the marriage license OF Elliott,
his father, to Miss Call, of Charleston.
Thus the clue is easily established and
the chain of evidence is said to be COM
plete.
The American Elliotts were a singu-
lar specimen of people. Beginning with
the Charlestonians, Elliott and his wife
nee Call,-it's said that he was fFetful
and stormy like dangerous sea, and
ferocious as lion ; while she was sweet
tempered, smooth as a May-time lake,
with spirits ''soft as elder down." They
may have raised more than three chill
dren, but there were three that made
themselves known in these regions,
though variously. John I'll. Elicit,
jas. Elliott and Roht. Elliott were the
three. It would be regarded by some
as a mild drawing of the picture to say
of John II. that there was a prolonged
epoch in his life when he was inclined to
''take the chances" For instance, it is
told of him that when he had lost an
eye and replaced II with a clever imita-
tion of q glass-eye. he bought three
counterfeit eyes, and pointing to the
one which he wore, he would bet that
he had three eyes as good as that, al
ways carrying the other two in his
pocket. After the bet, he would show
the other two from his pocket, and
would win,
Theirs ls legend of court scene in
the early days, in which the famous law
yer, McClung, defended John. History
biturcates concerning the affair in court.
One version is that Col. McClung had
occasion to remark soto vooe at the close
of the contest, that he had saved his
mans freedom but played hell with his
character. Another version is that the
kind-hearted Judge said he couldn't for
the life of him do anything with old
mother Elliott's boy. At all events,
John was spared for many a subsequent
event. He stuck up posters for recruits
tor guerIillas during the war, signing his
own name-John II. Elliott-to the
posters. Afterwards when arrested by
the Federals he was in danger of being
summarily dealt with. But his native
RESOURCES did not fcrsake him. He
learned that they were hunting for j.
Ii. Elliott with one eye, (he had laid
aside his glass-eye during the war; and
quickly inserting a glass-eye in tho
socket and looking his captors square in
the face, without so much as batting his
glass or natural eye, he convinced them
that hs was not the man who had raised
the guerrilla company and was prompt
ly released. Later in the strife he and
his friend Tom Tucker and others went
on buggy ride to Browns ferry,
armed with dou ble- barrel shotguns, for
the purpose of repelling the up-river
advance of Federal gun-boats. Luckily
for the gun-boats, there was no collision
with the inland enemyI
Another OF the three, Robert Elliott,
will be remembered for his eccentric an
tipaUhy for the Northern Bank of Ala
bama and for his bear-skin raiment and
seven-league boots. He was in some
capacity scout for Bragg's army. 1t
was his delight, in peace and war, to
disappear in mysterious way and re-
appear with like mystery. There was
a vague impression that he had a pass
port to Hades, whittier he went at will. |
This is not vouched for. Robert died |
during the war.
The third brother, James, "Parson |
Jimmie" certainly fell heir to the |
greater portion of his sanity mothers |
goodness. His more wicked brothers
were busy if they damned half as many |
souls as Uncle Jimmie helped to save.
He, too, is dead, so that John H., of
Limestone, is the only survivor, so far
as we are informed.
An Athens paper reports that John |
II. Elliott would leave almost immedi- |
ately for Ireland to look after the large |
spoken of above. Perhaps |
when he gets possession he will come
back to Alabama and establish a grand |
enterprise Of some character. Perhaps
noti