The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-12-16
FAITHFUL INTO DEATH.

l -hA AhA SIL I'AN V 1II<A H.
 The True Story of an Old Missouri
 Slave-Cared for His Master-Ac-
 companied Him to California-Took
 Care of Him in His Last Illness, and
 Brought Back His Fortune to the
 Widow.
 When a man has been dead for forty six years 1t it is rather late to write a tribute to his memory. But this is an in- stance where a conjunction of circum- | stances crowded out the facts, and the good which the man did was almost in- tered with his bones.
 The writer recently made journey Into the country near Harrisonville. Mo. the county seat of Cass, the county ad- joining that in which Kansas City is situated. A few miles from the county seat two graves were seen from the highway. They were conspicuous more from neglect than otherwise. The man who'was acting,as guide said, in mat ter-of-fact-manner, as he coaXed the team:
 "One is the grave of the mistress, the l other that of her faithful negro man. He was buried beside her, as you see, at her request"
 Of course he explained, they died about the same time. The mistress was told short time before her death that the old slave was dead.
 "They were victims of the cholera, :" continued the guide, when that aw- full scourge swept over the country. It 4 a 1n1n 1annni11ata1 IIo rric vii Every doctor in the town was stricken down, and then the only men in the town who sold drugs or knew anything about medicine dropped dead in their work. After that those who were left died in their turn, 1t seemed, and with out any assistance. Two of the latter lot were those who are buried in the graves We just passed. The woman was the wife of the oldest and best doctor in the town, John McReynolds.
 When the California gold fever struck the whole country Dr. McRey- holds caught it. and he joined the long 1 procession which whitened the plains. and crossed the mountains. He took with him his faithful bodysservant. an old negro who had been his property from infancy. He had attended his master so long that the master regard cd him as necessary te his welfare The old servant often accompanied his mas ter in the calls of the latter on his pa 1 tients
 When the doctor reached the gold country he gave up his profession and became a miner, and the old servant was his assistant in that. as he had | hna i,,o otI tI,i ;,,t ha tas were successful At the end of a year the doctor had s1O,O0o in gold, and that was a fortune then. But ihsthe midst of his luck he was taken sick and died. His nurse, attendant and undertaken was his faithful servant, Asa. They did not waste much time iii funerals out in that country in those days After Asa had buried his master he owned him self He was in country where there was no slavery. and had the entire possessions of his master in his own hands. No legal steps that might have been taken in Missouri could have reached him. He was rich man.
 q have been told, but do notremem- Der the particulars, that some of the people in the mines, who believed that Dr. McReynolds left large fortune undertook in various ways to get it. But the old servant thwarted them all and succeeded in getting out of the coun- try. His journey back across the plains was an eventful one. He was followed and tracked and often forced to resort to strategy to evade his pursuers. Once he buried the fortune of his master in the sand of the desert when he was r1 oy,J ir o band of desperadoes he found him self captive of Indians What his fate might have been you can guess, if he had not 8 bit of good luck about that time. Some sort of epidemic had broken out in the tribe where he was held, and as Asa was a sort of a doctor from observation, he experimented on the sick reds with such success that they regarded him as a special dispensation for their benefit from the hands of the Great Spirit. In this way he regained hisfreedom returned to the place where he had buried the fortune of hismaster resurrected It and resumed his journey without further molestation.
 He reached Independence, Mo, and called upon a man who had been a patient and friend of his master. This friend accompanied him to Harrison vile, and was the messenger who gave , Mrs McReynolds the first information concerning the death of her husband Then the friend told her about her , faithful servant Asa, and this was followed by calling in the old servant , from the negro quarters, and he render , ed to his mistress an account of his ; stewardship, with the larger amount of . his masters fortune.
 q have been told by some of the very ) old timers that Asa was the first color ed man who ever received anything like an ovation in Missouri. When Harrison vile heard of the old negro's return he was invited to the homes of the people and had greater glory than any white man who has ever lived there since His mistress gave him his freedom and some of the money: I don't know how much. But he remained her faith full servant. He refused to accept his freedom as long as his mistress lived
 "The cholera came, as I have said and one of the victims was the mistress of Asa. He cared for her and was hel attendant until he was stricken himself