Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1882-10-19

| The following, though 1t reads llk
romance, was written by Rev. S. NJ
Irwin, the venerable missionary 0
Highland, Kan, and may, therefore
be relied upon rs veritablc history. |
was written for the Chicago Historical
company's History of Kansas, now il
preparation, and the manuscript ha
| been given by Ms VIM. &. Cutler, his
torian for the company, to the Stat,
| Historical society.
early in the summer of 1862, mt tn,
Iowa and Sac Mission, there walked in
to one of the halls of the mission house
a tall, stout and bold looking man
roughly dressed and carrying on hi
back, wrapped in Il blanket, a nice lit
tie girl, OF years old. My name,
said he, lis Thomas Jefferson Souther
land ! am known as General South
crland, and connected somewhat will
burning Caroline, on the Canada Dor
der, in 1887. was prisoner under
the British authorities for more than
three months; they intended to hang
me, and erected the gnllOws in sight Of
my prison window. Butupon my tria'
by court marshal | was allowed to de.
fend my own cause, and they detected
in me u military man, and for this OF
some other reason they let me GO
This was in fact all we ever knew,
true or false, of who the man was. In
regard TO the little girl he carried with
him: This, said he, is not my child.
She is adopted. Nor do | know who
she is, only this, said he: 4 am an
acute phrenologist, and, in cholera times
| was travelling on the Mississippi, in a
steamboat, and happened to see 4
widow, travelling, with three little girls.
My skill in phrenology enabled me 10
see that the mother had but little love
or affection for her children, and that
this was a vc"y intellectual child, and
would make Il good teacher. ! asked
her if she would give this little girl
TO me. She at once said: Yes, you
may have her. | took her, adopted her,
and her name is Viola Switzerland
Tne object Of his visit was he said, to
leave the little girl 4 few lays at the
mission till he, with twoothcrmen who
were in company with him, and who
were in camp near, could explore this
portion of the Indian territory. He
went on to argue that the government
had no right TO keep these good lands,
west OF the Indian reservation, cXClu-
Siycly for the Indians; that military re-
StrictionS should be removed; that they
were settling the Pacific coast with i'm
punity, and that he was going to test it
here, or out some distance from the
Missouri river. if the country pleased
him, etc.
He left the girl, and after about three
weeks absence returned, greatly de-
lighted with his trip, and confident
that west Of the Iowa and Kickapoo
reserves there was one of the most
beautiful and productive countries.
His resolution was formed to organize
4 colony of young men and 90 at once
and possess some part of this inviting
field. He still wanted to leave his lit
tie girl at the mission until he could
return with his colony. This was
agreed to and the general left for Mis-
sOuri.
In about tbrco months wo covered
wagons were driven up To the MISSION.
We We're soon informed that it was
Gen. SOuthcrland's outfit, destined for
Il new settlement west of the Indian
reserves, but that the general himself
was in one of the wagons, very sick.
He was brought into the mission house
and well cared for, but his mind was
gone, and he never rallied. A few
DAYS of unconscious existence ended
his career. He was evidently man Of
intellect and will. and may nave had
considerably scholarly aiIanmcnts. In
his trunk was found large quantity
Of manuscript, made up of biography,
history and poetry. Much of it was
seemingly prepared for the press; but
nothing was found TO throw any light
on his ancestry or personal history.
The Young men with him were led TO
concludethat his home orhiscorrespond-
cncc was somewhere in eastern Ohio.
They said he wrote for some paper
callcl the Nonparcil, in that region.
With himself ended all his plans for
colonizing the west. The young men
returned TO Missouri The little girl
grew up to womanhood, was married,
and rs far rs is known, has good
record, This is all that was known at
the mission of Gen. Switzerland. No
Doubt hn has friends SnnrWhprr who