The age-herald., 1900-02-22
A ROMANCE OF SLAVERY.
An Old "Mammy" in St. Louis Sues for Her
 Rights in Her Husbands Estate.
From the Philadelphia Times.

From the Philadelphia Times. When the case of Jane Redmond vs. Frances Redmond and her children shall
 come up for adjudication in the civil counts of St. Louis, there will be unfolded a queer story. It is rich in recollection of slavery days in the south, and the essential ele- ments of romance.
 Jane Redmond is negress, one of those quaint southern mamndes to picture whom has been the vafn and tantilizing effort of playwright and novelist alike Frances Red moud is likewise a negrass, but of the modern kind, which is not invested with that charm which slavery and it's customs threw about the black cha,ttels of that tme The one is sixty years old, the other ten years her junior.
 Jane Redmond asserts that she is the widow of John Henry Redmond. Frances Redmond says she is John Henry Red mond's widow, and produces as proof a marriage certificate and four children, the youngest of them nearly grown. Jane Red- mond produces like proof, save that she has only two children.
 There is nb record of divorce, and the bone of contention is property froGfting 1SS feet on Maclslird avenue and 300 feet on Northup avenue. in the western part of the
 city. It is worth perhaps s4.oOO. Frances Redmond Is possessed of it by virtue of a will, written with lead pencil, by John Henry Redmond.
 John Henry Redmond was slave His master was Colonel A. H. Miller, one of the wealthiest planter in Rankin county. Miss.
 So was Jane, his wife, one of Colonel Mill
 ler's chattels and they were married by a
 minister of the gospel, after having sued for
 and obtained Colonel Miller's consent.
 Toward the close of the war Colonel Miller
 sent John Henry Redmond over into Ala
 bama for the purpose of carrying some
 money to a friend for safe keeping. Red-
 mond delivered the money, but instead of
 returning he made his way to the federal
 Enes, finally reaching St. Louis, where he settled.
 Late in the sixties he woed and won Frances, the woman who now calls herself
 Frances Redmond. Several years ago Heze-
 kiah Redmond came to St. Louis from Mis- sisslppi. He was a son of Jane Redmond,
 and he had often heard his mother tell him that his father was John Henry Redmond,
 who had deserted her and their master just
 before Lee gave up dlis sword to Grant. She
 supposed he was dead.
 But before Hezikiaih had been in St. Louis
 long he heard of the death of a John Henry
 Redmond, and, as If by intuition, he sus-
 pected that thds same Redmond was his
 father. Wrought up to a high pitch of ex-
 cftement, he began an investigation, which resulted in conclusive evidence that his
 suspicious were true. He visited Frances Redmond, and she. unsuspecting the tden- tity of her caller, showed him the will which John Henry Redmond had left. Immediately Hezekiah concluded to ap- peal to the courts. One morning about a | month ago Hezikah, hat In hand, ap- | preached O. J. Mudd. MT. Mudd became suf- | ffciently interested to write some letters to Mississippi and Alabama, and the replies to these confirmed even to the smallest de- | tatl all that Hezelciah had asserted.