Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-12-07

than one section of the country men are
sleeping their last sleep who are reputed
10 be the children of George Washington
One son is said to have been born when
George Washington was still q young
man, and long before his marriage to
the widow Curtis. The other instance
much more notorious, Is that of George
Washington Bowen, reputed to have
been the son of George Washington
and Madam Jumel. There is no evidence
whatever that George Washington ever
met Elizabeth Bowen ,afterward Madame
Jumel, the nearest to such evidence be-
ing that Washington was in Proviienc
for day or two when she was there.
All the rest is traditional gossip and
guesswork and the fact that George
Washington Bowen, whom the writer
often met, closely resent ied the pictures
of George Washington in face and phys
ique, and also possessed the peculiarities
of character of which Washington was
noted. Bowen himself never had any
thing to say on the subject of his reputed
ancestry. With remarkable energy
and industry, beginning. as he told the
writer, by wheeling q bakers barrow
and without relative to help him, he
gradually built up profitable business,
ard accumulated a respectable property.
From George Washington 20 the ia
nous British minister, Charles James
Fox, is natural transition, for Fox
was q true friend to his country in its
struggle for fair treatment at the hands
of King George, and was always
SUPPORTER OF LIBERTY.
That Fox, with all his splendid talents,
should have been gambler and rOue is
not strange, if there is anything in he
redity, descended as he was on his
mothers side from the prohigate Stuart
king, Charles H., and his beautiful
French mistress, Louise Renee. Fox
was what English people call in these
days "plunger'' in the gambling line
On one occasion he staked fl0 900 on the
turn of card only to lose and find him.
self without penny, although tie win
ner generously insisted on returning
$1,000. Perhaps the worst instance of
the great statesman devotion to gamb-
bling WAS when he neglected a meeting
of the kings advisers, called to consider
the sentence of death passed upon Will
lam Rhodes Williams, convicted
forger, and distant relative of the Duke
of Devonshire. Williams had forged the
dukes name to a draft for 5000 guineas.
Hc ChsC cACltSu Co sN LII htuN
owing TO the circumstances which
prompted the crime. The daughter of
Williams, with whom he resided, and
who was herself a widow was threatened
with distress for rent. Williams, a help
less invalid, receiving a small pension for
gallant service In the army, forged in
order to help her out of the difficulty.
Both were put on trial for their lives.
The jury acquitted the daughter and
convicted the father. A strong move
ment was started to obtain commuta-
ton. The king, usually inclined to Sc
verify, was in doubt and the cabinet
divided. Fox, whose voice was for leui-
ency, would undoubtedly have diverted
the decisions in favor of a milder PEN
atty. But when the day and hour ar
rived he was absorbed in a game at his
club. Messenger after messenger came
to summon him, royalty itself was wait
ing. Fox's invariable answer was that
the game would be ended shortly. The
king, grown impatient, dissolved the
meeting and Williams washanged.
Fox had no legitimate children and of
his iliegitimata offspring
But LITTLE IS KNOWN.
Between 1897 and 1902 he LED life of
quiet self indulgence, absenting himself
almost entirely from public duties. 1t
was about this time that he made the