The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-01

Abraham Lincoln" and dated about
Aug. j, 1853.
II am glad 10 have met YOU" said the
President, as Montgomery rose 90 go,
land am particularly pleased % hear
what YOU have 10 tell Of Mr.. jefferson
Davis
"Alay God bless You and yours" said
the negro, holding out his hand, which
/ The President shook warmly. And ii
/ Master Jef does fall into your hands re-
member what the Great Master OF US all
said, Blessed are the merciful, for they
shall obtain mercy
Il will not forget that, Montgomery"
the President said, land If l can do any
! thing more for you write directly to mt"
When Montgomery got back he at once
showed his letter 10 the commanding ofii-
/ Ger at Vicksburg. who issued orders that
/ Montgomery should be protected IN the
| possession of his property. The Presi-
! dent directed the Secretary of the Treas
ury to instruct his cotton agents to let
Montgomery alone, and he was never
! thereafter disturbed.
| In 1865 when the war ended, he had
about 1000 bales of cotton hand. Judge
| Gresham, the present Secretary Of State,
was in command Of the depart
ment of the Mississippi. BY order
Of Gen Grant he allowed Montgomery to
ship Injection to New Orleans. 1t sold
for very handsome price, and nearly all
of this money he gave to Jefferson Davis,
who was thus enabled to make his Eu-
ropean tour, and to live abroad for almost
a year after he was released from Fort
Monroe.
Montgomery continued TO plant with
great success until 1873. when he asked
Mr.. Davis to take the property back. The
latter insisted that Montgomery should
retain about 100000, which was justly
due him for his care of the estate and its
preservation at a time when, but for his
presence of mind and intelligence, it
would probably have been lost.
No planters reputation or credit was
higher after the war than was Ben Mont.
gomery's with the commission merchants
at Vicksburg and New Orleans. He had
two sons, whom he endeayored to bring
up and train as he had been trained. One
still lives in Mississippi and the other has
gone to South DakOata, there he pur-
chased 10000 acres Of land for wheat
farm. He says il is too cold out there for
him though, and he thinks he will return
to his old home.
Nine years ago Ben Montgomery died.
His funeral was attended by Mr.. Davis
and by all the prominent planters within
twenty-five or thirty miles. In an ad
dress he made at the grave MIR. Davis
said: 81 have had in my life many true
full than him whom this day we
have laid down to sleep"
There were probably not more than
three or four instances during the slave
era of the south where negroes were
trusted to the degree that Ben Mont
gomery was. But he never failed in any
thing, and in all his life never disobeyed
an order nor told a secret which was not
his to tell. His history is one of the most
interesting romances of the slave period
in the United States. AS showing the
loyalty Of the negro to his white owner,
there never was an instance known during
the four years of the war, while the men
were all at the front and no one at home
but women and children, of an attempt at
violence upon the women, which crime, in
thelast year or two, has become too COM
mon throughout the south. This is a
feature Of the past which the southern
white man can never forget.