Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1900-09-21
THE Jl MEL MANSION.
FASCINATING rlDow BECAME The
BRIDE VI AARON BURR

How the Gwamd Same OF Revoiuntiopry
Day Entersss....i the Heroes of America
Gen. wasIs.nr.s Quarters I'm the Man
sion Were prepared tor sudden Alarms
About the fine old house on Harlem
Heights known as the Jumel Mansion
cluster many memories of the days
that are gone says the New York Mail
and Express. Built in 1853 by Rodger
Morris, 1t passed into the hands or
Stephen Jumel. an eccentric French
wine merchant, whose brilliant and
fascinating widow threw about IL
great social lustre.
There are various stories OF the
early life OF Nine. Jumel. The version
probably correct is that she began LIE
as a barefoot girl near Providence, h
l.. Her name is said to have been Bet
ty Ballou. At the age of seventeen
she became the wife OF Peter Croix.
a British officer. and some months al
ter his death married the rich old
merchant. Stephen Jumel When her
husband died, Nine. Jumel used her
great wealth to gain social position
She entertained the gentry OF the
neighborhood with lavish hand, and
soon her home became celebrated for
It's hospitality. Washington and
Hamilton frequently enjoyed the good
cheer of the mansion An interesting
story is told OF their connection with
the big trees that now stand, gaunt
and grim, in front of the wide doors.
The tale goes that, on a hot summer
day, Washir ~'on was unable to find
shelter fro fierce rays Of the sun.
He remar. % his hostess in his
stately man.Sr.
hox a
shade trees hereabouts. It Is ex-
cessively warm"
THAT is quite an idea." replied
Nine Jrmel. You and Mr.. Hamilton
shall plant some"
Two servants were sent for shovels
and young shoots. Then, surrounded
by half hooking throng, Hamilton
and Washington dug away the soil
and planted the two trees which still
are standing in the dooryard.
Aaron Burr was attracted to the
fascinating widow and at length pro-
posed marriage. She was sixty, he
seventy-eight- When the old man
proposed. Nine. Jumel was very de-
cided in her refusal OF his offer.
You are the last man l would think
of marrying" she said. But suave old
Burr was not to be gainsaid.
Madame" he replied, 81 will come
again tomorrow and bring a minis
ter with me-
So he did When the couple stood
up to be married by Parson Bogart, a
black cat lazily strolled into the room.
"Stop," cried the bride Then call
ing one OF the servants she said:
Take this miserable beast away. !
fear it's presence during the ceremony
would bring i'll luck"
The honeymoon was not far adj
vanced before chickering's arose. Nine {.
Burr is said to have locked all the
rooms and removed the chairs fr on
the halls. so that her angry spo NC
could not sit down.
Many are the stories told OF Mr.
Jumel in her halcyon days. On
occasion Prince Napoleon was esco
in her to dinner. He paused on
threshold OF the dining room to allo
her to precede him.
Not before a Prince OF France"
said she.
And assuredly never before lady,r
replied the Gallant Prince.
1t was in the big dining-room that
Gen. Washington was sitting at din
ner when the sentry pacing the upper
halls whose windows looked out upon
the hills, rushed in with the announce
ment that the British were approach
Ing on the far side of the Harlem
River. Washington rushed up stairs
and gazed long and earnestly at the
moving red uniforms. Then he buckl-
ed on his sword mounted his horse
and clattered off down the western
slope just as the British were climb
ing the eastern shoulder of the hill.
Washington's quarters in the man
sion were we'll prepared for sudden
alarms. A push against the wall be-
hind where his bed stood will swing
open a secret door leading down into
another apartment from which excess
may be had into the open air. 1t was
In this chamber that Fitz-Greene Hal
leck is said TO have composedthis stir
ring lines on Marco Bozzaris." The
stirring stanzas we'll fit the spot of
their composition, which breathes In
the lines:
Strike! till the last armed foe ex-
pires;
Strike. for your affairs and your
fires;
Strike! for the green graves of your
sires;
God and your native Land"
In the southeast corner, on the up-
per floor, is the bedchamber In which
Nine. Jumel died. Toward the end
she grew querulous and crotchety. At
times she swore to seeing ghosts In
her room. Perhaps Washington,
Hamilton, Burr and the many other
men of name and fame who had been
under her roof passed before her in
grim array. recalling the brilliant
days gone forever. With the death
Of Nine. Jumel link that bound New
York to the eighteenth century was
broken.
Sius of Eating.
The majority of people are only tina