The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-09-20

!wag started the story that it was just
imported from London, and l don't re-
member to have disputed the story.
lSIt the south the fall of 1884 arriving
IN the north Jan. T. 1865. Having left
gule bit of property in Montgomery
was ANXIOUS to get protection papers from
me 1ederal government for it when the
CITY Tell into the hands of the Union
army Armed with credentials from Gov
SLnor Andrews of Massachusetts and
governor Gilmore of New Hampshire,
together with letters from General Ben
frentlss, whom, together with his staff,
mao Defrlended when they were prisoners
vi war IN the south in 1862, | proceeded
70 washington for the purpose of getting
protectlon papers for my property in the
south. 1t was some time before | could
get an interview with President Lincoln
Al At Iast succeeded. 1t was an interview
tlIat is engraved on my memory never to
De De eIfaced. 1t so happened that 1 was
the last one to go in before the closing
nouF. Mr. Lincoln sat with his long legs
resting on the top of his desk; his feet
were encased in carpet slippers. AS
entered he seemed gazing on something
thousand miles away. For a moment
VI Two he never moved a muscle His
s sac shall never forget. It was the
careworn and disconsolatei
hesltated about disturbing him. AT
iast, with his feet still resting on his
c o ne said: We'll. my friend what
Mr.. President" 1 replied. you look
| so weary and careworn that l hate to
| trouble YOU
3. "a.oh. I'm all right" he said What is
laid my papers before him. He COM
menced to read them. He had read few
lines OF General Prentiss' letter when he
Jumped up, fixed his eyes upon me, took
my hand, and said. Il have seen you be-
fore. sir. Where's your wife? L be-
leVe your wife saved my life" And
! quickly the cloud seemed to lift and his
| countenance brighten; his eyes snapped
His thoughts seemed to fly back to the
! DAYS of 1858. Yes. and I've often tried
| that rum cure that YOUR wife prescribed
| for me. and it has always helped me out
! Ben PrentiSs has told me of your kind
ness to them while they were prisoners
! IN the south. You must come uD and
| take tea with us tonight, for 1 want to
| talk with Nou about matters and things
| In the south. for Ben PrentiSs tells me
you are posted
l accepted the invitation to tea, and be-
fore we got through it was very late, and
| quite cabinet meeting was held.
| During the war the confederate gov
eminent had tax law which took one
tenth of all the cotton raised in the con-
| federate states. Cotton was the only ar
ticle in the south that was worth a dol
lar The confederate cotton was stored
| in every nook and corner available in the
confederacY. In the eight warehouses
in Montgomery was stored 10000 bales
of cotton: 5000 bales of that cotton was
stored and claimed by the confederate
Before l left Montgomery 1 had OBJ
| tanned list of all the claimants for that
cotton. If the cotton could be saved the
| 5000 bales claimed by the confederate
the federal government and be confis-
Gated by it. Cotton was then selling for
90 cents a pound. Alabama cotton is 500
pounds to the bale. The $4,000 bales Il,
of
have sold for 100000 which would have
gone into the treasury of this govern
ment. l laid a plan before Mr.. Lincoln
for saving all the cotton in Montgomery.
1t was generally the case when the con-
federateS evacuated place to burn all
the cotton before they left. There was
cotton enough at that time in the south
ern states to pay large portion OF the
war debt.
The papers were made out appointing
me treasury agent at Montgomery to
superintend the shipment of the cotton.
started for Montgomery reaching Mo-
bile March 10. At that time Montgomery
was occupied by the confederates, with
General Berefort in command l lett
Mobile overland on horseback and over
took General A. ]. Smiths command at
Selma on his way to capture Montgom-
ery. l pushed on and entered Montgom-
cry ahead of the Union army. The con-
federate general had decided to evacuate
without a fight. Together with some
claimants of the cotton we called on
General Berefort to try to induce him to
leave the cotton in the warehouses in
tact He hesitated for some time. we OF
fered him s1.O0O.OoO in confederate money
or 500 600 in greenbacks to leave the cot
ION but he was as stubborn as mule.
we couldn't bulge him an inch. AT IL
o'clock that night the eight cotton 1T 6no ware
nf cotton went up in smoke, with not a
cent of insurance. The 10000 bales of
cotton. which belonged to different claim.
ants. would have sold for S5l,O0O,0U. Most
of the 102. 900 bales Of cotton belonged to
parties that had nothing else left out o.. OF
the wreck of the civil war. About SUI
bales of that cotton belonged to me.
Abraham Lineoins " wife se1 waS 4 Hsp
brother. Thomas Todd. lived in Selma
Ala He was in the confederate service
received a personal letter from Mr.. Lin.
coin. requesting me to attend to some
business between Mrs. Lincoln and her
brother. which 1 did. That letter was
dated April 13, 1865. two days before ne
died by the hand of an assassin