The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-07-06


renutation and renown, the Hamptons
of Hampton are easily among the first
IL Who died the other day was the
eirbth of the name. There is always a
wade Hampton. and as long as the
breed endures there will be one. They
cams 10 this country about 171O. and
for a time lived in Virginia Just an
terror to the revolutionary war. or to
he more accurate, in the early part
NJ the eighteenth century, the Wade
HAMPTON of that date removed te
South Carolina. carrying with him
about 500 slaves. He saw then that
the soil Of Virginia was being exhaust
cd by successive and continuous crops
Of tobacco.
He also perceived that cotton and rice
were valuable agricultural products,
and that cotton culture, then in it's in
fancy was bound to be the most profit
able Of ali southern crops. The world
had worn linen as it's underwear until
then But linen had it's disadvantages,
while cotton was the ideal fabric for the
lighter clothing. particularly that of
womsnly garments, says a writer in the
washington Times.
So the third Wade Hampton of Amer
lean stock determined to grow cotton,
and. if the soil suited it. rice,
A little experimentation showed il
was the ideai crop to be grown with
slave labor. The Orient had long rec
ognized rice as one of it's great food
staples. Warren Hastings first called
the attention of the English speaking
countries Of Europe and America to it's
value AS a commercial crop.
IF YOU can grow it successfully in
your country" he wrote Sir William
Ferguson, lieutenant governor of Geor-
gia and the. two Carolinas, you will
have added to your food supply one of
the best and cheapest cereals of the
world
He was a true prophet in both re-
spects. But, though old Colonel Wade
Hampton. the generals father. realized
ali this his shrewd, far-seeing mind
said that the great source of the south's
wealth must always be it's crop of cot
ton.
He also perceived that the true home
Of the cotton plant was from the TWEEN
ty-eigEth to the edge of the thirty
fourth parallel in the United States
and that with Americas organized la
Dor system. controlled by the ablest
and shrewdest lot of agriculturists the
world has ever known, the United
States must have the monopoly of cot
ton growing for years. And it did.
In 1861 we grew $500. 900 bales. with
slave labor, and the world looked on
amazed We will make 5000 600 or
even 10 100000 bales and market il ALL
too said General Hampton, in an adj
dress delivered TO the Southern Cot
ton Planters association at Vicksburg,
Miss. in 1858.
He lived to see it an II $50, 600 bale
crop. made by free labor, directed by
the old masters and all marketed at
prices yielding the grower from 2S to
nor cent nrOfif r1pr halo
The Hamptons were agriculturists
alone. Politics they abhorred, and it
was only when the most distinguished
representatives. of South Carolina wait
cd upon him in 1876 and assured him
that he was the only man who could
heal the divisions in the party. and
carry the state, that he would consent
10 run for governor.
He beat Chamberlain so badly that
the Republican party in South Carolina
Ito use Chamberlain's own words be-
fore a congressional committed Just
laid down and dfedR' W
OF course his election to the United
States senate was a part of the pro-
gramme. and the hope of the ultraists
in South Carolina was lost, for General
Hampton was declared duly elected by
an ultra Republican majority of the
senate committee on privileges and
elections. and that closed the contest.
General Hampton. always a man of
the most charming and high bred mAn-
ner. soon made friends of the most stall
wart Of the Republican leaders. SEN
atOr Carpenter of Wisconsin was one of
his closest and warmest friends. Hamp-
ton was q very handsome man ply
SiCally, and he and Senator Conkling
Of New York were the two most pow
eTful men physically ever in the United
States senate.
Have you ever used dumb-bells or
Indian clubs. general2" asked Mr..
ConkIing of Hampton one day when
ne had been admiring the latter's SOL
derly bearing.
No responded the latter. my GYM
nasium has been the southern fields
and forests. gun or rife i'm hand
In his prime General Hampton was
the deadliest shot at four-footed or
winged game of his time The writer.
Who lived next to his Mississippi es-
tate for thirty years, once asked him
how many bears he had killed.
II should say over 200 was his an
sver. and two thirds of these 1 killed
with the knife"
Years ago. before the war. there lived
IN the French quarter of New Orleans
a man called Pedro the Skilled Cut
-N's III WIS ldiuOuS LOE the hlnu anu
quality of his Steel His bowie knives
would simply white ordinary iron or
Sleel as though ii were a pine shingle.
PEDRO charged 500 for his best knife
and $40 for his second best. The edge
OF has blades was like that of a fine
razor, and one honing once each year
would keep il So
This cutler made General Hampton's
iather and the general himself each a
hunting knife. The length of the blade
Was nine inches and for the first
'lree inches the weapon was double
edged. You could shave the hair off
lne back of your hand with either
weapon, and it was with this knife
That the general killed. A bear, when
ndrd pressed by the dogs, will always
back up against a tree.
Ihen the dogs cannot get behind
u'h- but must face him. When the
pear was busily engaged by the pack
VI dogs IN front of him, Hampton would
yue,ly step up to the tree. and, reach
ing forward from behind, would drive
ms Keen knife through the bears heart.
80 lettly and skillfully did he use his
Salle that the blade would generally
oe buried to the hilt in the bears body.
JUS behind the shoulder. and in almost
very instance the heart was split in
Next TO the bear. Hampton was a
RAINIER hunter. and he killed many a
C4e or these beasts, that are still TO be
.yund IN some abundance in the Mis-
.sS'pp sWamps- Every autumn Cen
80 hampton visited his Mississippi
E-allauons for the shooting. but chiefly
~. .gl the bear hunting. He always hunted
LIE except when he expected to shoot
NJ. nus or Wild turkeys; then he took