The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1897-08-27
BILL ARP'S Weekly LETTER.
ERRORS IN STORY or MISSION.
AIRY BUTLER CORRECTED.
.SOnE ANCIENT GEORGIA HISTORY
Barlow sage Tells OF the Trouble EHpo-
rIsncod M Getting Indians 20
Leave che state.

wrote about the missionary, DR.. But
Ter, aud his wife. No doubt but that
IL Is founded on fact and he probably
got his data from some very old man
who still lives near Coosuyille, n little
village twelve miles below Rome. I
was interested IN the story, because
when / was q lad that same DR.. Butler
was imprisoned in the county iail at
Lawreneeyille, where my father lived.
Another missionary, by the name Of
Worcester, was imprisoned with him,
and their oflense was their refusal TO
take the oath Of allegiance TO the state
of Georgia or otherwise 10 leave tho
Cherokee nation. Theywere suspected
of using their influence 20 render the
Indians dissatisfied with the treaty
that required them TO 60 west. John
Howard Payne, the author of "Home,
Sweet Home, " was also a suspect, and
was arrested and taken 20 AIilledge-
vile 10 be examined. Those were hot
times in Georgia, especially north
Georgia, for Gwinnett was a border
county, and we children could almost
see Indians squatted among the chin
quapin bushes or behind the trees on
the road 30 the mill. We knew they
were just over the Chattahoochee river,
and that some white people over there
had been murdered by them. Indians
were Us much o terror 30 us as ghosts
and runaway negroes. The new gran
ite Jail had just been completed, and
nine Indians were the first prisoners.
They oil escaped within a week. They
took up a stone in the floor and bur
rowed ont like moles or rabbits.
Ineyer heard until Govan wrote it
that Butler was dragged to Milledge-
vile with a rope around his neck, nor
am prepared to believe that much Of
the story. He and Worcester were
arrested at New Echota lin Gordon
county, and brought mounted to Law
renceville and tried before Judge
Clayton, who was Mrs. Henry Grady's
grandfather, a learned, humane and
incorruptible Judge. They had the
best of local counsel, Elisha Chester,
also native of Connecticut, and they
had the renowned William Writ as an
adviser, and they had the president,
John Quincy Adams, on their side.
John Marshal, the chief justice of the
supreme court, issued his mandamus
to compel Judge Clayton torelease the
prisoners, but he refused, and a coils
ion seemed inevitable between the
United States and the state of Georgia.
think that Mr. Govan's informant is
mistaken, for Butler had lots Of friends
powerful friends--and John Ross,
the chief Of the Cherokees, was back
ing him. Doubtless he was good
man, but he was stubborn and fanati-
cal, and declared he owed no allie.
glance except to the American board
of foreign missions, and to God-that
it was his duty to teach Christianity
to the Indians, and he would continue
to dc so.
Both these men were convicted ant
sentenced to the penitentiary for foul
= years. When they arrived at Mil
! ledgeyille Governor Lumpkin kindly
advised them to take the oath or agree
to leave the state, and if they would
do either he would at once pardon
them. They refused and wrote to tn,
board of missions for advice. Tha
= board commended their refusal ant
q again urged Writ and Sergeant to resor
to the supreme court. But these emf
nent lawyers advised an acceptance o
8 Governor Lumplin's offer. So the,
Q accepted and were pardoned-and m,
' father always said they returned t
6 Connecticut He knew them and ha
: many conversations with them, an
u gave them good advice, for he, toe
Vt was a New England man. And henC
j. I am surprised to learn from Mr.. GC
van that Butler returned to his mis-
sionary work and died near Coosayill
u and was buried by the side of his wife
Ot In fact, I never knew before that h
l. had wife; but, of course, the inscril
y ton on her tombstone settles tina
- Mr. Govan gives Butler the Christia
name of Elonez, but the records in tt
u state archives show his name as |
re himself signed it to be Elizur,
n, It is, however, an interesting al
is pathetic story and very great me
10 figured in it, both state and nationa
n The conflicts between the state al
y the Cherokees and the United Stat
ne continued for 2years and ended on
IS with the exodus Of 1888 Sever
of treaties were made-made only to
&c broken. Ross and Ridge, the tv
- chiefs, could never agree upon term
u and they had their followers. VIII
'at Georgia ceded Alabama and Miss
LIST sippi to the United States in 1902, t
Id consideration was that the Unit
"a States should extinguish the Indian
title and remove them beyond t
10 Mississippi river The federal &C
on eminent was so slow in trying to
this that after waiting and urging a