The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-15

should remain rent free to three genera
lions. of his descendants. Accordingly,
Henderson built "A row of six small stone
houses. investing virtually all his savings
in their erection, and became a landlord
and a man of substance among his neigh
bors. David Bremen Henderson, the
youngest of the children, was born in one
of these houses on March IA, 1870
Kicked Him Into the street.
After heavy dinner the old Earl drop
ped dead one night, and the estate passed
into the hands of strangers who knew not
Henderson few days later the dead
Earrs youngest brother called at the Hen
derson home and asked to see title deeds
or some other legal documents under
which the land on which the houses stooo
was held But Henderson had no title
deed, no lease, no legal paper of any sort
whatsoever. He had never thought to ask
for anything Of the sort-the Earl had
given permission for the occupation of
the landN 50 what need was there for pa
pers? Then, said the young laird. the
Hendersons must get out inside of two
days. Henderson could not believe his
ears, but the laird meant exactly what
he said. When this was made clear to
him, Henderson turned, seized the young
gentleman in his mighty grasp, carried
him to the door and kicked him into the
street Il. 1852
In the mind of Henderson that closed
the incident but his clever wife knew bet
ter. She comprehended how serious a mat
ter it was for an ordinary man to COM
nit bodily assault on a member of the
nobility, and knew that something must
be done or Imprisonment might result. So
that night she went to the laird without
her husbands knowledge, and on her
Bonded knees begged for clemency, PROM
Using as speedy evacuation of the premises
sort, If only there should be no prosecu-
ton. 1t took a long time to move the
angered laird, but he finally relented, and
six weeks later the family embarked on
the Old ship Brooksby for the United
States, where two of Mrs. Hendersons
sisters were living. M
The trip lasted many weeks. David
Bremen was only years old then, but
he remembers the stormy voyage as if 1t
all happened last week
Busy Childhood.
The Hendersons struggled slowly to Chi
cago. When they reached that place
Thomas Henderson had just one British
sovereign Qess than So left of the money
he had realized from the sale of his eff
fects in Scotland, with which to begin life
anew.
George Kerr, a nephew of Mrs. Hender-
son, met The party at Chicago TO escort
them farmer on their way. Inc young
man had brought along two covered wag-
ons. In them the newcomers finished their
travels. Wasting no time in idle repln-
ings, Henderson buckled manfully to his
task. In less than four years he and his
sturdy boys had established themselves so
well that they were able to tIy a big
tract of government land in Fayette coun-
ty. in the northeasternmost corner or
Iowa, and there they settled and spread
out, after genuine American pioneer fash
ion. They named their new home Pleas
ant Prairie, but their neighbors wouldn't
have ii So They renamed it Hendersons
Prairie, and so il is known to the present
day.
II would be hard to conceive of a buster
boys life than that of David Il. Hender-
son In the log home built by his father.
The whole country abounded with wild
game, and the streams were full of fish
but the youngster had no time TO hunt
or play the angler. Daily in the summer
time, unless II rained Il was his duty TO
begin work before sunrise and continue
until after sunset. On rainy days. and in
the winter time. nc read and studied: in
the years between 8 and 16 mastering
Shakespeare, Milton and other English
classics. On Sundays he went 10 church
His only amusements were athletics. ana
he was champion wrestler of the entire
region. Through this the course OF his
life was changed almost a $ completely as
the episode with the dead Earl of Blu