The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1899-05-25
CHAPTER XVI.
LAST WORDS.

after the duel. That the will was his
deliberate act appeared when it was
seen that he, not being lawyer, had
informed himself as to how to execute
it legally. The proof was very strong
that 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. ..-.... .t-r.
This is my theory. But should add
that lawyers have argued long and
learned1y over this branch of the case,
and that judges have written opinions
sustaining it,
l take from my closet a file of the
New Orleans Daily Picayune for the
years $4,000. In those feverish 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-
liminary question as to whether the
plaintiff was free woman and en-
titled to sue-and, after that, the title
to the La Fourche plantation, it's 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 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 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 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 WOE
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 were en-
tirely successful. Courts and iuries
were with us. Possession was given
to my wife the day before Christmas of
that year: and such holiday carnival
as was given to our overjoyed and af-
fectionate people" upon the occasion.
l think the whole state could not
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 abuse
her.
Conrad Bostock disappeared; where.
it can only be conjectured. Rumors of
men shot in gambling ARRAYS at Mat
amoras reached us in such a wav that,
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 was
rudely broken by the storm of civil
war. 10 few was the situation more
painful than to me. OF northern
birth, attached to the union bv habit
and early education, all nv interests.
my ties and associations were at the
south. I did as others did. I went
with my state" Heavily, indeed, was
the ruthless hand of war laid upon us.
Hostile parties met upon our lands.
buildings were destroyed, crops
trampled down, stock driven off
Those years We're years of desolation
and terror.
And all this, thank God, has nassed
away. Peace smiles again: sectional
nate and passion are disappearing; the
union IS supreme, and the old flag is
at the south. Slavery has
perlshed, with all in it that was good,
y ana all that was bad. AS I look upon !
the new order of things, much that I
nave written seems like dream.
, here is our happy home, under the
aorlo sun, upon the teeming soil of
southern Louisiana. Yet love to tell
ny children Of the glory of our whole ].
7ast land. I love to take them up to :
'ocky New Hampshire, to show them
where their father lived and dreamed
n his youth, and to make them ac-
luainted with the rugged character
md simple virtues of the people among
whom he was reared. teach them at
east the spirit of the New England
oOet's noble verse:
The pine must whisper to the palm,
The north wind break the tropic calm.
md with the dreamy !anguo. OF the tine
no north's keen virtue blend, and strength =
beauty join, !" -
TIRE END