The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-23

After a heavy dinner the old earl
dropped dead one night and the estate
! passed into the hands of strangers who
knew not Henderson. A few days later
the dead earl's youngest brother called
at the Henderson home and asked to
see title deeds or some other legal docu-
ments under which the land on which
the houses stood was held. But Hen
derson had no title deed, no lease,
no legal paper of any sort what
soever. He had never thought to
ask for anything of the sort-the
earl had given permission for the oecu-
patton of the land, so what need was
there for papers? Then, said the young
, laird, the Hendersons must get out in
side 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.
In the mind of Henderson that closed
the incident, but his clever wife knew
better. She con1prehended how serious
matter it was for an ordinary man to
commit 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, promising as speedy evacua-
tllon of the premises as possible without
legal contest of any sort, if only 1there
should be no prosecution. It took a
long time to move the angered laird,
but he finally relen'ted, and six weeks
the earl had given permission for the
tells having been sacrificed to the emer-
gency. the family embarked on the old
ship Brooksby for the United States.
where two Of Mrs. Henderson's sisters
were living.
The trip lasted many weeks. David
Bremen was only 6 years old then
but he remembers the stormy voyage
as If it all happened last week.
A Busy Childhood.
The Hendersons struggled slowly to
Chicago. When they reached that
place Thomas Henderson had Just one
British sovereign Qess than $5) left os
the money he had realized from the sale
of his effects in Scotland with which
TO begin life anew.
George Kerr, a nephew of Mrs. Hen
derson, met the party at Chicago to es-
cort them farther on their way. The
young man had brought along two COW
cred wagons. In them the new corners
finished their travels. Wasting no tima
in idle repinings. Henderson bucklei
manfully to his task. In less than four
years he and his sturdy boys had es-
tablished themselves so we'll that they
were able to buy a big tract of gov
eminent land in Fayette county, in the
northeasternmost corner of Iowa, and
there they settled and spread out, after
genuine American pioneer fashion
They named their new home Pleasant
Prairie. but their neiShbors wouldn't
have ii SO. They renamed it Hender-
sons Prairie, and so it is known to the
present day.
1t would be hard to conceive of a
buster boys life than that of David B.
Henderson in the log home built by his
father. The whole country aboundcd
with wild game and the streams were
fun of fish. but the youngster had no
time TO hunt or play the angler. Daily
in the summer time. unless it rained,
it was his duty to begin work before
sunrise and continue until after sun
set On rainy days and in the winter
time he read and studied; in the years
between s and IS mastering Shakes
peare. Milton and ether English clas =
les On Sundays he went to church
His only amusements were athletics,
and he was champion wrestler Of the
entire region. Through this the course of
his life was changed almost as com
pietely as the episode with the dead
Earl of Buchan's younger brother had
changed the circumstaRces Of his
father.
Broke His Arm and Went to College.
It came about in this way: When
the youngstef' was 16 or II, d stranger