The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-06-09
DAVIS AND HIS BOOK.
Am Interview With Friend OF the e1-
President.

DAVIS AND HIS BOOK.
Am Interview With Friend OF the e1-
President.
CHICAGO, June /.
The Times publishes the following in
terview with Mr.. J. G. Wright, of the
United States Marine hospital, who is an
old friend of Jefferson Davis. Mr..
Wright, in reply to an inquiry as to how
long he had known Mr.. Davis, said:
"He was room mate and chum at West
Point. We both graduated in the class
of 1928. Our attachm ent was extremely
close. He was an ardent, impassioned boy,
and, although be was not possessed of su-
perior bodily strength, he was almost
entirely without fear of anything. He
was particularly tenacious of opinion,
and asserted himself always in the most
positive manner. he was a universal ia
vorite at school. During our stay at the
school four classes graduated some three
or four hundred officers, of whom but
three are now living, excepting Mr..
Davis and myself. Two of them. General
N. B. Buford and General c. P. Bucking.
ham, live in Chicago, while the third is
General Charlotte Drayton, of South
Carolina. General Drayton is son of
the General Drayton of the revolutionary
war, and he and Mr.. Davis were the only
ones of the five that were in the southern
confederacy. After leaving West Point
Mr.. Davis and I met but very few times,
although we have kept up CORES
pondence for the past fifty years, excepting
the time of the rebellion. After it was
over, wrote to him to learn if all that
WAS said of him was true, intending, if
he was not clean in his personal record,
that the correspondence should cease. l
was soon satisfied that much that was told
of him was coined in times of excitement
and hatred. For instance, that petticoat
story.
The truth of it is that Mr.. Davis and
his wife were not travelling together at
all. he and party of gentlemen were
making their way toward western Texas
on horseback, and were far in advance of
Mrs. Davis, who, with her sister and
servants and escorts, were travelling in
ambulances. On the night before their
capture they had beard that they were
being followed by banditti, who believed
that they were carrying away with them
all the confederate funds, and so they
halted for the purpose Of letting the am
balances catch up with them, which they
did. Tents were then pitched, and the
party retired for the night. Mr.. Davis
slept with his boots on, ready to jump up
and mount his horse at any moment. 1t
is true that he. had taken off his coat.
Well, during the night Wilson's Mich.
igan cavalry came up on one side of
them and the Wisconsin cavalry came up
on the other. Each mistook the other
for rebels and they commenced firing.
Mr.. Davis was Of course awakened by
the firing, and, knowing that it was i'm.
possible for any confederate soldier to be
there, he jumped up. Knowing that he
vas captured, he thought he might effect
his escape during the confusion, but if he
found that impossible, he decided that
he would stop further bloodsbed by Civ.
ing himself up. Just as he started to
leave the tent Mrs. Davis reminded him
that be had forgotten his coat, and an old
colored aunty picked up Mrs. Davis's
shawl and he threw it over his shoulders.
Mr.. Davis was much more feeble then
than he is now, and, fearful of the chill
of the air of the gray of the morning, he
kept the shawl about him. He started
out and tried to find his horse, which he
had left tethered near the tent. But be-
fore he left the tent the cavalry men dis.
covered the identity of one another, and
had surrounded the little camp with
guard. Ofcourse everything was done
in less time than it takes to tell it.
Well, Mr.. Davis found his horse, but it
vas mounted by Wisconsin cavalry
man. He then determined to Aaunt the
shawl in his horses face in the hope that
he would rear back and dismount the
cavalryman, and then he could mount
him and escape. Just as be had removed
the shawl from his shoulders for that
purpose he found that another cavalry
man was right behind him. Seeing then
escape was impossible, he gave himself
up. That is the truth aboutthe capture;
but 80 far as his being in Mrs. Davis's
petticoats is concerned, that is simply
ridiculous.
"Mr. Davis is a verv poor man
he is what is called lar i poor. He is
living now on the property bequeathed
to him by an old lady who died without
natural heirs, but there were some debts
on the estate, and as the devisee he be-
came the executor of the estate and
was obliged to pay off these debts to get
control of the property, and he mad to
to borrow money to DO it with. So the
bequest has really thus for been burden
to him. His own plantation he has
leased entirely to his old slaves, End they
run it to suit themselves, and never make
more than living off it, and he does not
seek to compel them to pay rent. 1t was
his poverty that determined him to write
his book. 1t is now in the hands of Ap.
pleton & Co., the New York publishers,
and he expects that it will be out in very
short time. Itshould have been out some
time ago. and its non.appearance is one
of his reasons for coming north at this
time. He is to get royalty on each
book published, and is, of course, anx-
ious that sales shall begin as aoon as pos
sibe.
CoNKL1NG AND HIS TEMPER.-Among
the many reasons demanding Mr.. Conk-
ling's defeat is his violent and vindictive
temper, which keeps him at enmity with
more than half of the prominent men in