Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-06-28

seen that ne, not being a lawyer. had
informed himself as to how to execute
i6 leg ally. The proof was very strong
thai his mind failed sadly after his re-
moval to La. Fourche. and when, the
evening before he died, he was full of
anxiety to execute another paper, it is
not at all strange to me that he had
forgotten the one secreted in the old
Mississippi home.
This is my theory. But I should add
that lawyers have argued long and
learned1y over this branch of the case,
and that judges have written opinions
sustaining it.
I take from my closet a file OF the
New Orleans Daily Picayune for the
years 1S59-6O. In those feyerish times
little else but heated politics and the
alarming condition of the nation was
seriously talked or read about, but
among the things of local interest most
often mentioned by the press of the
southern metropolis was the great suit
at law of Coralie Jewett against Con-
rad Bostock, involving the novel pre-
1iminary question as to whether the
plaintiff was a free woman and en-
titled to sue-and, after that, the title
to the La Fourche plantation, its slaves
and belongings and all other property
left by the late Pierce Bostock.
Could man give higher proof than I
did of faith in the justice of his cause?
Before the suit was begun l married
the woman who by the decision might
be declared slave!
have said that the law of Louisiana
was cruel to such as she. Let me
hasten to add that in the end it gave
her full measure of justice.
The fight was a bitter one and pro-
longed for more than two years. The
defendant was in possession and was
ably represented. And brisk little Mr..
| Garnett, on our side, had an oppor-
tunity to become acquainted with the
''best lawyers of Louisiana"
The reader will not require me to
give the details of this great legal con-
test. He can find them in the Missis-
sippi and Louisiana reports of the time.
So large a public interest is rarely
excited in a civil cause. Sympathy was
largely in our favor. the exceptions
being of that class which could not
bear the thought that a woman born a
! slave should become the owner of one
of the finest plantations in the state
But Coralie's romantic story had Won
the ardent people of that section to
her support, and frequent proffers OF
material help in the struggle were
made to us. The generous friendship
of Mr.. Dorion enabled US to thankfully
decline them.
In the last days of 1860 we We're en-
tirely successful. Courts and jurie:
We're with us. Possession was give1
to my wife the day before Christmas o.
that year; and such holiday carniva
as was given to our overjoyed and af
fectionate people upon the occasion
l think the whole state could no
elsewhere show. The Dorion family
came down to enjoy the festivities
Miss Celeste bringing Mr.. Simon Bar
net along, whom she had given las SHE
expressed it, the legal right to abus,
her.
Conrad Bostock disappeared; where
it can only be conjectured. Rumors o
men shot in gambling ARRAYS at Mat
amoras reached US in such a way tina
we supposed him to be among them
but his fate, or whether he is yet alive
are matters of the greatest uncer
tainty.
The happiness of Coralie and I wa
rude1y broken by the storm of civi
war. To few was the situation NOR
painful than to me. OF northern
birth, attached to the union by habi
and early education, all my interests
my ties and associations were at tn
south. l did as others did. l ''wen
with my state" Heavily, indeed, wa
the ruthless hand of war laid upon us
Hostile parties met upon our lands
buildings were destroyed, crop
trampled down, stock driven of
Those years were years of desolatio
and terror.
And all this, thank God, has passe
away. Peace smiles again; sectiona
hate and passion are disappearing; tn
union is supreme, and the old flag
venerated at the south. Slavery ha
persisted, with all in it that was gooi
and all that was bad. AS look upo
the new order of things, much that
, have written seems like dream.
Here is our happy home, under tn
forid sun, upon the teeming soil {
+ southern Louisiana. Yet love to te
. vast land. love to take them up
. rocky New Hampshire, to show thel
, where their father lived and dreame
in his youth, and to make them a.
r quainted with the rugged characte
and simple virtues of the people anon
whom he was reared. l teach them {
! least the spirit of the New Englan
2 | poets noble verse:
= THE pine must whisper to the palm.
The north wind break the tropic calm,
And with the dreamy l2nguo- Of the tine
]. The north's keen virtue blend and strength
i beauty iOin."