Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1881-12-08


Rev. John Carroll. chaplain Of che
Catholic Orphan asylum, 0hieaeo. the
oldest priest in America was the re-
cipient of high honnrs at the York;
town celebration. The following i
taken from the Washington Hwnld |:
Among the interesting souvenirs Of
Revolutionary days exhibited at York.
town was the dressing case Of Count
de Grasse. which was taken to York
town BY it's owner, Rev. Father John
Carroll, Of Chicago. 9 vigorous and
alert old gentleman. who has been .
Catholic priest for sixEy-twO years.
By the courtesy Of Lieutenant Com
mandtr Kellogg. to whom he was In
troduaed BY Mrs. Senator Logan, Fa-
ther Carroll was taken on the Talla-
poosa. and during his stay at York
town was the recipient Of much at
tention from President Arthur, Secre-
tary blaine, Gen. Hancock, Senator's
David Davis. Morgan, Bayard, Gov.
Holiday and many others. The
dressing-case itself is amarvel Of beau
tiful workmanship and compactnsss
of design, the contents being general
ly Of s0lid silver, with the De Grasse
crest engraved on each article. The
history Of this case il given by Father
Carroll as follows:
On the 10th Of October, 1871, L I'd
CORVALLIS surrendered nc Yorktown.
Va. the British forces under his CON-
mand to the American and French
armies. That Autumn. the French ad-
miral proceeded with his feet to Win
ter in the Gulf of Mexico and on the
18th af April, 1852, the English Ad-
miral Lord Rodney, with a large feet
attacked the French near Old Port
Royal, Jamaica. They fought all day
and almost all of the French vessels
were destroyed.
The Count de Grasses flagship was
named la Vile de Paris, and was a
present from the city of Paris to Louis
XIV. She carried ITO guns, and had
Q crew of 1900 men, of which all but
three, including the Count de Grasse,
were either killed or wounded and at
the time of the surrender she was in q
sinking condition.
During the conflict, an English sail
or got into the cabin of the French
vessel, and brought out the counts
dressing-case, and concealed it on board
of his vessel. On their return to Eng
land, the English feet put into HaE-
fax, N. s., with the Count de Grasse
on board Of one Of their vessels, pris-
oner. The sailor there took the case
ashore and sold it to q woman who
kept tavern for some money and az
much rum as he desired to drink,
whenever he could get permission to
90 on shore. This woman sold the
case to the merchant who supplied her
with rum. John Patterson, captain
of oneofthis merchants vessels, bought
the case from him, and had it in his
possession in 1899.
In 1917 / arrived at Halifax and
saw the case for the first time; IL was
stall in the possession of John Patter-
son, who was then married, but with
out family. Mrs. Patterson invited
her nephew. John Barry, 1924, to come
from Ireland, and in the following
year she died.
In 1897 John Patterson bequsathed
by his will to his wife's nephew, John
Barry, the house he owned and had
lived in, and the furniture to q young
woman they had adopted. A short
time afterward John Barry and the
adopted daughter were married, and
in gratitude for a great service rem
dered to Barry by myself he present
ed me with the case.
In 1882 brought the case with me
to Canada West, now Ontario, and in
the year l843 my house was entered
by masked robbers, who carried the
case away. About a mile from the
house--the road being mlddy-they
climbed q fence and there broke the
case. When the robbers had left the
house two boys from the house mount
ed horses and galloped to Niagara
town to give notice of the robbery.
The robbers who had taken the same
road, heard the horses and fed, Ieav-
ing all the case behind, with the ex-
ceptioa Of one Of the silver cups.
These robbers were afterward arrest
ed and imprisoned. One of them who
had his finger bitten By the house
keeper, whose eyes hs attempted to
gouge, was sentenced 10 serve fye
years in the Kingston, Ontario, pani-
tentiary.