The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-06-09
GUARDED THE GOODS.
WIFE OF A CONFEDERATE KEPT
SOLITARY WATCH.
Her Pluck Marvelcd at; ~Undaunted, She
Protected Her Furniture, Which Had
Been Placed on the Sidewalk, Through
The Night.

eiA Seoou SudFu OVer d long pie OIL
household furniture, stacked high on
The Washington avenue sidewalk, west
Of Thirteenth street. This strange
climax to an eviction, happening in the
very heart of a great city, was an
event OF extraordinary interest to pass
srs-by, who saw therein a striking
example of what a southern woman
can do in the face of misfortune.
Mrs. Lydia VAIL is the widow of
John w. VAIL of Grenada, Miss, who
served with distinction as a captain in
the Ninth and Sixteenth Mississippi in
fantry of the confederate army during
the civil war. The woman is a native
OF Missouri, but came to St. Louis from
Mississippi eight months ago. She
rented a rooming house. at 1900 Wash
ington avenue, and thereby hangs the
story, which is now the talk of the St.
Louis wholesale district along that
thoroughfare. Incidentally, it may be
stated, that Capt. Wahl introduced the
artesian water supply system in Missis-
sippl. He was an engineer. Not a
single gray hair is visible in Mrs.
Wallis head. She carries her 81 sum-
mers of alternating ~gladness and sor-
row like a woman of half her years.
Despite her long vigil of Monday night,
kept from a rocking chair placed in
the doorway, Mrs. VAIL was clipper
and wide awake in the morning. She
wore a plain black dress and strobe
back and forth before the house until
her plans for escape from adversely
had finally matured. The locality is
far from the choicest spot in St. Louis
after dark, yet Mrs. VAIL faltered not.
Her early training on a Missouri farm
had included craftsmanship and she
was not afraid to stand guard to save
her own. True, she did hire two young
men of the ne%ighborhood to act as
watchmen, but they fell to canning"
beer, and were promptly relieved by the
widow. Mrs. Wallis troubles were due
to her failure to settle a claim for rent
advanced by agents Of the Chic heirs.
The real estate agents not being able
to collect two months rental, alleged
Z " ~ uuC, D1ou6AI ouAC Ou Apl1l ~ Ill
Justice Robert Walkers court at 1000
Olive street for 500. Eight days later
judgment was rendered for the amount
named, with $3.50 costs. In conse-
quence she was evicted by c%onstables.
And such an eviction. O~ld-fashioned
mahogany pieces and new-fangled dres-
sers were carried from the building and
placed along the edge of the pavement,
side by side. In a pile of odds and
ends was stacked a life-size picture of
the dead confederate officer. Here was
a w%ashbowl once used by Gen. Bragg,
and there was a brass cage which con-
tanned a live parrot. The bird had
been given Mrs. VAIL on her 5Oth
birthday. Feather mattresses, a large
mantle clock, dainty crockery and
china, fancy lambrequins, bric-a-brac
of all sorts, and old furniture of a pat
tern seldom seen north of Mason and
Dixon's line, were numbered in the
wares. A less stout-hearted woman
than Mrs. Vail would have shed tears
at the wanton display of her possess
sions in a public highway. But she
shouldered her shotgun and stood
guard. Daylight arrived and a compro-
mise was effected. The McNichols
claim was paid in full. AS the sun
went down Mrs. VAIL was still gath
ering together her odds and ends, fam
lily relics and portraits for shipment to
Grenada, Miss, where her mother-in-
law lives. She saws that she will re-
main in St. Louis until her furniture
is sold and then return to Mississippi.
Her pluck has been the marvel of the
neighborhood, and not a few regret
that she failed to keep up her place,
as she has since won their respect.