Signal-Copiahan. (Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1886-07-08
"reminiscences OF Major General Thorn.
M Kinds.

iniNccuCcs VI och' hA"'N' "N $3.50
paper.
After all things were aulicably set
tied ut New Orleans, he disbandcd his
brigade, all OF whom IRE now dead 50
far Us know, and returned to hi:
quiet and plentiful HON. and resumed
his place rs u ncighbor and good citi-
zen. The next great public net Of his,
| rccollect, was that he was the col
league Of General Jackson In purcllis-
ing the most valuable part OF the State
from the Choctaw indians. | think II
was about 1929, he was elected to Con-
grcss. whether for more than one term
| / do not reccOllect. He was a Jealous
Free Mason, and with his worthy
neighbor Rev. JnO. &. johnson, dida
great. deal to advance the interest Of
tho craft In jefferson county. The first
lodge IN Faycttc took his name Thorn
as ilinds Lodge, which II still bears.
lie was never u member OF any church
but was n firm believer in christianity:
said IL was the religion Of his country
and no good citizen ought to say n word
against Il. but all ought TO patrOnizc
IL, for the nearer men were governed
by it, principles tho better they were in
nil the relations Of life. | suppose it
was near sixty Years ago two Of his
particular friends, whose names do
not now rccollect, had an angry alter
cation and concluded they must resort
TO what is called "thc code Of honor"
to settle 1t. A challenge was passed
and accepted; their seconds aud sur.
gcons were selected and the time and
place appointed for the combat. ] rec
ollcct that John Guion, then u young
lawyer, afterwards a noted citizen Of
Mississippi, was one OF the seconds.
Gen. Kinds rode into NatclcZ early
one morning and was told that the du-
cling party Just crossed the river to
fight I'm Louisiana. lie said 81 must
see them IL possible before they fight
and fastened 70 the river and got
someone IL take him oyer in skiff,
and soon found the party. He was
walking RICH. UP to them when Guion
said, "Gcn. ;Iinds you are too late,
we have fixed our meets and bounds,
and we can only consider you an in
trudcr here The General did not
pause, but said with broad smile,
HJOhn YOU be quiet. i will attend to
YOU presently As he approached
the bcligcrents he said "gcntlcmen
YOU know that am the personal
friend Of each of you. and want to
say there never was Il difficulty be-
tween two really honorable men, that
could not be settled honorably to both
parties without shcddingOf blood, and
now il YOU are what you posses to
be, high toned. honorable gentlemen
YOU can settle your difficulty II you
will 60 about Il right without all the
fearful consequences to yourselves ami
families, and friends, growing out OF
shedding each others blood, II may be
killing one or both of you. ! ask you
TO pause until we zee what can be
done ~ They paused then said they
had spoken hasty words in q moment
of anger, they were willing to take
back offensive words they had spoken
in anger. After u few more scnten-
ces intcrclanged, the! said the past !,
all buried, now let us be friends asaik
and SO they were.
was living near Gen. Kinds In
1910 when lie died, and was ut his flu
neral. He was buried in his private
cemetery and had n marble slab width
short cpitatll laid over his grave Oh
brick. The grave is now in u very OBJ
,cure place. The property Ia. passed
into other hands; the dirt roads have
been 80 changed by the Railroads that
people seldom pass near his grave.
No one ever sees IL any more except
they 20 off on Il set purpose to see 1t,
or accidentally stumble on IL. ] have
long felt. as he has no family living,
that Mississippians ought to erect Il
suitable monument to pcrpetuate the
memory of our great fellow citizen.
The monument need not be- at hi'
grave. IL is not the remembrance OF
his dust we wish to perpctilatc, but ol
the man, n he was when among us.
The monument ought to be at some
public place; the Capitol OF the State
for instance. His name is perpetual
ted In Kinds county, but how few
now know any thing about the man
for whom it was named?
Ihavc written enough about my old
neighbOr for the present.
j. q. JONES.
Such a man should not sleep in such
grave. Why not re-inter his dust
at Faycttc--ncar the public square
with a suitable but not costly monu-
ment.
Seven cities mourned for Homer, being dead
Who living, had no place to rest his head
II was not so with Gen. Kinds. lie
had an abundance Of everything in life,
and friends and admirers, every
where. Let his dust be honored, and
his memory perpctuatcd, and 1t might
not be inappropriate to inscribc on his
tomb, "IIcrc lies the mad Major
tho language applied to him by the
British General, in his official report
of tie battle OF New Orleans. Port
Gibson Rcvci lie.
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