Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-14


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 land. so what need
was there for papers? Then said the
young laird. the Hendersons must get out
INSIDE OF two days. Henderson could not
oeheve MS ears. but the laird meant exact
ly what he said. When this was ,nada
clear to him. Henderson turned seized the
young gentleman in his mighty grasp car
the street w INV
In the mind OF Henderson that closed tho
lncldent, but his clever wife knew better
enc comprehended how serious a matter II
was Tor an ordinary man to commit bodily
assault on member of the nobility ana
knew That something must be done or inn
rr1sonnent might result. So that night she
went TO the laird without her husbands
knowledge. and on her Bonded knees beg
eed for clemency. promising as speedy
evacuation OF the premises as possible
,n legal contest Of any sort. IL only
.here should be no prosecution Ii took a
iohg ume to move the angered laird hut
ne nnaIly relented and six weeks later the
famliy embarked on the old ship Brooksby
Tor the Upited States. where two of Mrs
Henderson's sisters were living
The trip lasted many weeks David was
only SIX years old then. but he remembers
week. S
A Busy Childhood.
The Herdersons struggled slowly to Chi.
cage When they reached that place Thos.
Henderson had Just one British sovereign
Qess than 50 left of the money he baa
realized from the sale of his effects In
Scotland with which to begin life anew.
George Kerr, a nephew OF Mrs Hender-
SOL son, met the party at Chicago to escort
them farther on their way. The Young man
had brought along two covered wagons
In them the new corners finished their
travels. wasting no time in idle repinings,
henderson buckled manfully to his task
In less than four years he and his sturd1,
boys had established themselves so well
Inat they were able to buy big tract of
government land in Fayette county, in the
Eortheasternmost corner of Iowa. and there
they settled and spread out, after genuine
American pioneer fashion They named
lhelr new home Pleasant Prairie but their
nelghbors W wouldn't have 1t So They ro-
named II Henderson's Prairie and 50 {. "a
known to the present dav
II would be hard to conceive of A busiar
boy lie than that of David II Handsre,,
In the log home built by his farther Tbn
"hole country abounded with wild game
ana the streams were full of fish h,,f thu
sounsster mad no time to hunt or play the
al gIer. Daily In the summer time unless
IL ralned, 1t was his duty to begin work
before sunrise and continue until after
sunset; On rainy days, and in the winter
tlrne, ne read and studied, in the years be-
tween eight and sixteen mastering Shakes
peare, Milton and other English classics.
On sundays he went to church His only
amusements were athletics and he uas
champion wrestler of the entire region
through this the course of his life wac
changed almost as completely as The enI-
sode with the dead Earl OF Buchan's
younger brother had changed the circum-
stance of his father.
How He Went to College.
1t came about in this way; When tbA
youngster was sixteen or seventeen a
stranger who had heard of David's prowess
as wrestler visited Henderson's Prairie
Tor the purpose of trying conclusions with
him The stranger was taller and heavier
IMAM MS boyish opponent. but Henderson
threw him repeatedly, the stranger finally
admitting that the boy was the better man
Finally the stranger said that If he could
nave What was called the right hand un.
DER mold, he would try again. 1t was
against all precedent to give an opponent
such an advantage, the left hand going
with the under and the right hand with the
upper hold, but Henderson consented, and
after long struggle, the stranger got tho
trlp-lock,' the boy was thrown his right
wrist being dislocated and one of the bones
OF the forearm broken. The doctor called
to look after the injury failed to discover
the fracture. The fracture healed slowly,
and young Henderson was sent to Rock
ford, III. where another surgeon could be
consulted.
David was able to do no manual labor
fora long time, and It was while he was
thus incapacitated that serious thought
was taken of college course. Before he
went to college, however, he taught a term
of school in his home district.
Gen. Henderson looks back upon that
summer as one of the most enjoyable I'm his
whole career. Never before had he been
able to devote his entire time to intellec-
tual pursuits. and he read and studied with
an enthusiasm that helped him to make
wonderful progress.
His First Speechmaking.
That fall D. b. Henderson entered the
Upper Iowa University as freshman. There
he studied for three years, working on the
est frugality in winters. He and chum
rented quarters and kept house for them.
selves, cooking their own food, sweeping
their own floors and making their own
beds
Young Henderson got special standing
among his fellow students through an in
cident which had a feature suggestive of
the episode in which his father and the
Earl of Buchan were principals. His skill
a debater was as great as his SuperiOr-
ity as wrestler. He had begun when he
only eight years old, his eldest bros
Their George being his opponent generally
and his father the Judge. His reputation
In this line had preceded him at Fayette,
and he had not been in the college a week
before he was chosen to lead a discussion
before one of the debating societies. on
his first appearance he was interrupted by
a senior who asked a fippant question.
Henderson stopped and looked at the fel.
low, but soon resumed. Three or four min
utes later came another interruption much
derson turned again and looked al the fel-
low. This time the young man from Hen.
derson's Prairie spoke up:
Mr.. Chairman" quoth he, IF you can
not preserve order in this room, 1 will"
Then he upset the senior and piled him
up in the woodboX. There were more
interruptions at Upper Iowa University
when David Bremner Henderson was MAXI
ing remarks.
How He Went to War.
Though he enjoyed student life at Fay-
cite immensely he did not finish the course
of study there. 1t was interrupted by the
civil One of his best friends was a
student named w w. Warner In August,
1861, while the was still young, Hem
derson and Warner spent Sunday even-
ing with Warmers sisters. Later in the
night Henderson told Warner he was
ashamed of himself because he had not
enlisted a volunteer in the army of the
north. 1t would be a pity to leave school,
he said. but the country needed young men
just then. The friends talked long and ear
nestly over the situation and the result
was a plan the elimination of which oc-
CURED at Fayette on September Is. Hen-
derson then twenty-one.