Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1885-07-26
BLIND TOM AND HIS MASTER
How Ne was Held Fifteen Years as
a Slave.
,E WAS ADJUDeED A LUNATIc,
And His Old Master Became His Committee
and Gained Fortune BY Exhibiting
Him as a h0sieal Prodigy,
HIS FATHER LEFT TO DIE IN WANT.

WASHINGTON, July Is The suit brought
by Ihe mo;her OF Blind Tom in the Vir
ginis ,urts 10 rescue him from the eontro
of his I'D master, james G.. Bethune, Of Co
luu bus ia. when the facts become known,
cannot is'l TO awaken q protund interest In
the fate of that strangely endowed human
being The facts developed on the presen-
tstion Of petition to the Judge of the
County Ccnrt Of FauqGisr, Va, few days
ago, can leave no doubt in any fair mind
that Toms invaluable services have been
appropriated by Bethune as efsctuslly as II
the laws Of slavery still prevailed, not only
in the South, but north Of Mssons aud
Dixons hne. Tom has been well clothed
sud fed which were essential conditions for
the use that has been made of his talents;
but be has nothing to show for the many
thousands, probably q hundred thousand
dollars that be has made for his master.
TENS mother is now in this city, poor,
and dependent upon the charity OF friends
She is q small woman, 8 thorough FLOODED
African in descent but not black. Her
complexion is that Of the Crew men, on the
Liberia coast, which is described as dark
brown. Her hair and features are African.
Her son Thomas, rs she calls him, eX-
hibiteS his wonderful musical talent bstore
be was year old he was born entirely
blind, but q surgical operation enabled him
to see distinctly: faculty which be still re-
tains, being able 20 distinguish large objects
and 10 move about a room without guide.
In bis iuC,BcY h. was attracted by tue
singing OF birds, the barking Of dogs, and
similar sounds, and would endssvor to
crawl 10 them. Hearing the piano in the
house e his master, b. would endesvor to
get TO il; and 81 length succeeded while the
family we're Ct dinner. They were all
greatly surprised 10 hear tune played, and
their Eurprise became amaZement when
they discovered that the blind negro baby
produced IT,
Tom WAS born in lS49. and this wonder
full discovery of his talent was made IN 1850
or 1851. His master, it is said, took him
20 Columbus Ga, and had him instructed
music and began to exhibit him TO
n oney when only FIVE years old. Tom re
n aimed q slave until the close of the war,
when he was bound by his parents to Beth
une, Me master, for FIVE years, at the end o
which he would become of age. The terms
were that the parents, Mingo and Charity
Virgins were to receive $500 per snnum,
be plsctd IN q comfortable home With main.
teusnce, and that Tom vas to receive $50
per month, with 10 per cent on all profits.
The contract was for five years Bethune
paid some money from time to time, but
never accounted for the profits, and shortly
afterward removed to Virginia, where he
bought an estate. On the 18th day Of July,
1870. Bethune, without notice, it is said, to
Toms parents, whom b. knew to be alive
and resident in the wretched cabin
in which he bad placed them, near Col
umhus had Tom committee 20 the
keeping Of his SOD, John G. Bethuns as a
lunaric. IL is said that summary process
by which freeman WAS deprived of his
liberty, was gone through With By the Court
without requiring any of the safeguards
which the laws have provided 70 be observed,
There was no examination by experts, nor
notice 10 parents; and thus was Tom forced
under the p,e,ext oflunscy, to become the
servant OF bis old masters son. Bethuue
exhibited this alleged, or decreed, luuatic
all over the country "a 3 musical prodigy,
and made immense sums Of money. IL ls
said that he made SiO,OO0 clear during one
season 10 California Young Bethune,
Toms committee, or master, is said 10 have
been improyidrnt, aud spent large sums 10
fire horses The family were poor at the
close of the war, and remained so until the
revenue from Toms talent made them
rich. -
Tenn. in the mean time, has been kept in
close confinement ottenhmes under lock
and key ard no person has been allowed
TO communicate with hun. De has grown
I'D in absolute ignorance Of everything ex-
cept music. For several years at time
be was not returned to his mother, and
then only few DAYS he knows nothing
of either divine or human relations, except
implicit obedience to his master.
John G Bethune died in 1884. His ia
tier, James n. Be'huue, who Was on the
commins bond for $4,000, went into
the Fauouier Court, where Tom had been
committed as lunauc in 1870, and had
himself appointed q committee to take
charge Of Tom. Another son took the "a.
Tiers place as bondsman in the reduced
amount of s., 900 The accommodating Judge
waived the legal requirements of certificates
of physicians or Other witnesses; and, IN.
deed, On examination By physicians or 9TH
ers would have been impossible, as Tom at
that time was on exhibition at Charlotts, IN
North Carolina, 400 or 500 miles from Eau
uuier Court House.
II was not until this second commitm snt
Of Tom 10 the Bethuues as lunstlc, that
his Door, ignorant mother in her Georgia
cabin was made aware Of the fact that ne
was held and bound in that way. BE had
been practically held as q alsye for four
teen Years without her knowledge Her
knowlt dge. Her husband had died the year
yvffh HAVING
seen his son in dozen years. The Be
thunes were rolling in wealth, earned oy
Tom, while bis parents were living and dy
ing in restitution in the vilds OF Georgia,
4 The old woman says she was not able 10 buy
medicine for her children, Of whom she has
had twenty. thirteen being now alive. Ii IS
needless to add that she was unable to pro
cure counsel
II was under such circumstances ths
some persons volunteered assistance. Ton
was PLAYING in New Orleans The mother
was taken there, and q writ of hsbess cor
nus was sued out for Tom, the object oeinS
TO try the question of the legal custody
claimed by Bethune To avoid the inquiry
Be,hune ran away, taking Tom with him
The mother then determined to pursue tn,
Bethunes, and If possible reclaim or rele IS
her SON. She went to New York with hs
fr;ends TO establish her residence, and be
a come a citizen of that State. Bethune cam
hack to Virginia, exhibiting Tom IN tn
small towns, but avoiding publicity IS muel
as possible. When he reached Wsrrentor
the county seat Of Fsuquier Toms mothe
nresepted her petition for q writ Of habsa
rorpus. At FIRST the Judge refused to issu
tbe witt; but after sending for and consult
inc with Bethuns, he consented to do SC
and set a day for the hearing. The pstino
set forth the facts that Tom had been con
mi,ted Without legal examination, that b
had not been submitted to the jurisdiction
of tie cours, that be had not been exam
;,a} Ia rhvsician that No witnesses test