Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-10-06
PATRICIAR BLOOD
Dropped From Its High Estate.
The Story OF IAN English Midship.
mans Exploits.

We nave u HOUlo mdu hLuVhB uoi q
patrician blooded gentleman who in
recent years forgot himself and fell
from grace.
This noble youth was arrested on a
charge of horse stealing. a while back,
and last week when his trial came off
at fernando, Miss, society became
stirred to its utmost depths over the
matter in truly sensational style.
A leading lawyer Of this city, well
known for his great eloquence, loren
sic ability and his capacity to make
the tears fall by his telling speeches,
was engaged, or in legal %parlance, re-
tanned, in the case. There being sew
eral hundred pounds of clean English
cash involved as fees for attorneys,
our Memphis representative naturally
spread himself, or in other words, did
his level best. And he succeeded in
touching the hearts of the spectators,
the jury, the court, and his client,
whom he cleared. went scot free
through the aid Of a skilled local at
torney who ranks high in Hornando.
The prosecuting attorney worked
hard for a conviction, but he made
slim Roadway against the double team
employed and the sympathies aroused.
The names of these gentlemen are
Col. Josiah Patterson, Col. Thos.
White, Attorney General 0glesby,
and Judge Powell occupied the
bench. The young man alluded to is
the son Of the late Admiral
Tomson, X. G. B., and the grandson
of another Admiral Tomson who
fought at Trafalgar under the great
Nelson, and his widowed mother is
mono other han Lady TOmson who
now resides in the City Of London, is
possessed of wealth and influence, and
made it felt in the recent charge
against her degenerate son when he
rested under the charge Of being a
horse thief.
Since the son of the late Admiral
came TO this country, several years
ago, he acquired a voracious appetite
for corn whisky. He wasn't brought
up on the plebian stuff, in fact was
reared with a silver spoon in his mouth
and began life as a midshipman in the
British navy, but he fell by the way
side, or On the quarterback, got into
some serape, quit the British navy,
emigratod to this country and became
a common tramp. AS he travelled
from place to place his love for liquor
grew and he hadn't been here six
months until he was in a condition to
sell his very soul for a nip ofgood, old
rye, or his ragged clothes for a pint
of tanglefoot, and finally he got so far
that he would steal pennies from a
dead darky's eyes to buy a swig Of raw
pine top to satisfy his craving appe-
tite,
Some months back Ed Thompson
went out to par City Hospital as a
chronic incbriate, and under the
kindly cara of DR.. Laurence he was
temporarily cured. The doctor found
the young man to be finely educated,
well disposed, of good Intentions when
sober and nothing mean about him,
except when he'd get drunk. In the
latter condition the mean part of his
nature, bottled so long, would efer
vescence, boil over and envelope him
from head to foot.
After living at the hospital for some
months, making himself useful in
many ways, and behaving like
a truly reformed druukard,
Thompson = he A~mericanizod his
nlmo after he became a common
wandering tramp. Thompson, in
clearly garb and freshened intellect,
through h is six weeks siege Of absti-
nence, attracted the attention Of Mr..
Stewart, a prominent planter of Desc
to county, a dozen miles south from
here, and wanting just such talent
he hired-or retained him. The re-
t%ention however did not last long.
One dark stormy night Thompson
wanted whiskey SC bad that he forgot
all the better influences Of his nature.
and throwing good precepts to the
dogs, be mounted one OF Col. Stew
arts borses, rode all the way to this
city, spent the few dimes he had in
his pocket for bad liquor, and bro ught
up at the City AospitaI as drunk as a
BOBBY. While stupefed with the
mean stuff he had imbibed, he tried
sell the stolen horse.
Thompson hadn't been at the hos
pital more than an hour or two before
Colonel Stewart and two aids, in the
shape Of field hands, all armed With
cooked pistols, arrived there,
pressed Thompson into a corner and
at tho point Of their weapons hustled
him to the calaboose. The poor fel.
low hadn't thought Of resisting. He
was too drunk for that, even if he had
any erit left in him; but tho Stewart
posse felt safer in keeping their
weapons in working order-sloeping
on their arms a soldier might call it.
The surreptitious manner in which
Thompson borrowed the horse, with
out saying "by y'r leave" aroused the
ire Of Mr.. Stewart, and nothing could
appease his wrath. He determined to
teach Tramp Thompson a severe les
son. A requisition was applied for
and obtained, the Governors Of two
States, Mississippi and Tennessee.