The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1882-05-24
Lotlar from Hon. J. F. q. olaiborne.
MONTICELLO.

resided there, is well worth writing, and
either the Hon. G. S. Mcmillan or the Hon.
Hiram Cassidy should do it.
/ saw Monticello for the first time in
1921, when was only Is years of age Mr..
Mieajah Terrell, then well-known merchant
of Natchez was on his way to Philadelphia
to purchase goods for the fall trade, and
was under his charge to be placed at school
in Virginia He carried his family with
him to spend the summer with his relative,
the Hon. Charles Lynch, who had recently
settled in Monticello and established an
extensive plantation in the neighborhood
in connexion with his father-i n-law, Mr..
Bracey, South Carolina gentlemen of large
fortune. We spent week at the hospitable
mansion of Judge afterwards Goyernor)
Lynch, aud then proceeded on our journey,
ON horseback, to Virginia. was well
taken care of by the Judges eldest son, Mr..
Sedley Lynch, whom you must have known
about Jackson in after years.
/ Monticello was then the political and
commercial metropolis of southeastern Mis-
! sissippi. 1t was a well built and very
/ handsome town on the banks of Pearl river;
obtained its merchandise from New Orleans
by way of Covington and the Lake, and
enjoyed a large trade with the Choctaws
who then owned the whole country between
Pearl and Tombigbee rivers.
The Supreme Court sat in Monticello ;
it desired to be the seat of government it
was always the residence of half dozen or
more of the most aspiring men. in the State,
who were either candidates themselves or
had to be consulted in fixing up the State
slate. During the week | spent there in
1921, it was particularly lively, because the
Legislature had been called to meet in
Columbia, to consider the Poindexter Code,
and most of the members, and many prom
inent outsiders halted in Monticello.
OF the citizens of the town at that time
besides Judge Lynch, / remember the
venerable Col Hartman Runnels, and his
three sons, Hiram, Howell and Hartman,
the first Of whom became Governor of the
State.
The venerable Joseph Caldwell, who had
been Unitarian preacher, a man of liberal
Nculture, of high classical attachments, and
had been for several years at the head OF
Jefferson College in Adams county Find
ing his religious views unacceptable, he
resigned, removed to Monticello, and was
for many years clerk of the county court.
The venerable Maj. David Burney, who
came from Virginia and Georgia to this
vicinity in Spanish times, brought the first
blooded stallion; established the first
race track, and was the father of the
I Mississippi turf. He lived, in my boyhood,
where Mr.. Thomas McCown now resides,
near Washington, with large family of
sons and daughters; but caught the Pearl
River mania, and moved to Monticello, and
his son was Sheriff of the county.
Young as l was in 1921, kept journal
Of my travels from Natchez to Virginia, and
if can find it l will send you what recor-
ded of Monticello, and whom and what l
saw there. I remember | was carried to a
Debating Society one highland it did not
impress me as anything, extraordinary.
COL. Harmon Runnels had been conspicu-
Gus in Georgia politics; often a mem
Der of the Legislature, devoted follower
of Clarke in his prolonged conflict with
Troupe, and when the latter triumphed and
there was no longer any hope for Clarke OF
his adherents, Col. Runnels removed to the
Pearl river country. He was an Iardent
politician of fearless and scombativo tenn
perament called "a spade a spade" and by
no softer name; was a hard-shell Baptist,
but ready for a knock-down argument or a
rough-and-tumble fight, at any time, on five
minutes notice. His sons, particularly Hi
ram and Harmon, inherited his characters
tics, and often made Monticello "a very hot
place"
remember seeing at the Lynch Mansion
in 1921, Gen. George H. Nixon, Gen. P.
Rutullius r. Pray, John A. Grimball,
Joshua Childs and Gen. McAfee.
Pray was from Maine man of educa-
ton and culture; lawyer who preferred
the civil to the common law; lived in
Pennington; compiled a Code which was
not adopted, and held seat in the Supreme
Court
Gen. Nixon was Georgian; resided gin
Pennington, was connected with the Braceys
by marriage; wasa brave soldier and accom-
plshed gentleman.
John A. Grimball was a youngl lawyer
from South Carolina, settled in Columbia,
where he married Bracey, subsequently |
removed to Jackson, and became Secretary
of State.
Gen. McAfee was a planter from South
Carolina, of considerable means, who settled |
in Covington county, was frequently in the
Legislature, and was the father Of several
gentlemen conspicuous afterwards in Mis-
sissippi politics, Hon. Joseph McAfee, Hon.
Morgan McAfee, Hon. Madison McAfee,
Auditor of Public Accounts, and Hon. J.
NJ McAfee, member of the present Legisla-
ture from Tallahatchie county.
Joshua Childs was from Massachusetts,
a thorough lawyer, but a drawling nasal |
toned cultural speaker, growing, equity old |
bachelor who served long time on the
bench and divided his time between Port
Gibson, Natchez and Monticello
In those days Judge Powhatan Ellis and !
Judge John Black, who each became U. S. |
Senators, resided chiefly at Winchester,
Wayne county, but were often in Month
cello, seeking its influence and participating
in its intrigues.
In 1885 visited Monticello for the Sec
ond time. I was then candidate for Con-
gress. Most of the persons referred to
above were dead, or had removed but my
old tudor, Caldwell, was alive, and though |
differing in politics, gave ME his benedic- !
tion.
l met there Gen. Arthur Fox, the Sena-
tor from the district, Hon. Franklin E. |