The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-02-16


fuss is about While terror has prevailed
in Stockton and agitation in LathrOp and
Fresno, Sarah AIthea has been the
unobtruSiye guest of her old friend,
Mammie Pleasance. If there has
been any general lapse of men,
ory or interest in the middle aged
colored lady who cut such prominent fig
ure in the Sharon episode Of 1889, Sarah
Althea Hill-Sharon-Terry has not shared
it. She is not one to forget old acquaint-
ances or the days of auld lang syne.
SOUGHT HER AAMMIE.
When Mrs. Terry left the Culbreth
residence on McAllister street she
had no idea of running amuck
through the wide, wide world. She
simply did what most women do when they
are in temporary trouble or excitement; she
went to seek shelter with reliable friend.
friend in need is a friend indeed, and
Mammie Pleasance did not draw the color
line when Sarah Althea took refuge with
her from sOrrUws that no one else could
share.
A CALL reporter, after a persevering
hunt for a clew all day yesterday, bethought
himself, as a last resource. of Mammie
PleaSance. The thing was to find her. At
length he learned that at the house, 1861
O tavia street, occupied by a member of the
banking firm OF Thomas Bell & Co.,
the colored lady had been seen
early in the day. and might be
interviewable. just as medical men dag
nose obscure organic diseases by differ
entiatiOn, that is by excluding all possible
sources of doubt, so the reporter arrived at
the conclusion that Mammie PIeaSance was
the fountain of wisdom and truth in this
case. if these desirable qualities were TO be
found anywhere.
SAFE WITH HER FRIENDS"
Mammie Pleasance is practical woman
More than this she has the saYoir fare
which can only spring from a thorough
training in the hard school Of the world. To
the reporters query, rs this Mrs. Pleas
anceY' she sharply answered: Yes.
What do you want?'
Being satisfied that no brutal or sensa-
tiOnal statement would be made regarding
her pr0tegP, Mrs. Pleasauce volunteered
the information that Sarah Althea Terry
was then and is now under her charge, or,
as she expressed it, safe with her friends"
Furthermore, she Indignantly denounced
the stories that Mrs. Terry is not mentally
sound.
why" said Mrs. Pleasanee, "we have
been out car-r.ding to-day. Mrs Terry is
just as sound in her mind as you or me.
She came TO see me, and have just left her
q few minutes ago. If you want to learn
anything more you must come up to-mOr-
row. All right? OF course she is all right"
CLOSE AT HAND.
Mrs. Pleasance declined to say where
Mrs Terry was, but it was easily inferable
from the close guard she kept over the
gate that the missing lady was either domi-
cied at 1861 Octavia street, or was at
that time within its walls. The reporter
could do nothing else than accept the
assurance that Mrs. Terry was not
then interviewable, but the positive manner
of her friend and guardian forbade the
presumption of falSehood. There is no
doubt whatever that Mrs. Terry is not in
condition to require such restraint as is
furnished by the State in extreme cases.
Mrs. PleaSance is a tall muscular woman,
and apparently about 40 years of age. 1t IS
understood that she owns sufficient house
property in the city to make her quite inde-
pendent of the worlds changes of fortune or
physical toll. At the same time she has not
been spoiled by prosperity or embittered by
experience. She held out her hand to the
reporter at departing, and the feeling was
like the strong grip Of man,
BOND OF FRIENDSHIP.
The links that have bound the two women
together are romantic enough to fill a volume.
Every one who has travelled in the Southern
States knows the close ties that bind
young women to the colored mammiss
and aunties who often stand in the
closest relations to them in infancy.
Sarah Althea Hill is Southern woman {;
so is Mammie Pleasance. When the
late Senator Sharon took Sarah to wife,
or assumed share OF contract which one
tribunal declared equivalent to it, Mamme
Pleasance aud David S. Terry came to the
young woman's rescue when her position
was challenged. The peculiarly sensa-
tonal and trying ordeal to which Sarah
Althea was subjected, the alterations
OF buoyant hope and fiat failure. the death
of Sharon. her marriage with Terry-her
attorney-the death of Terry at the hands
of Nagle, Justice Fields Dody-guard, are
matters of recent history,
But neither the rapid succession Of
disasters nor the subsequent imprison-
ment> of Sarah for outrageous contempt
in the United States court diminished
the strange love and friendship which the
colored woman, Mammie Pleasance, enter
fnf., Il CO.. In ma