The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-10-14
THE HAMILTON FAMILY.
An Evil Genius Has Followed the
Fortunes of the Household.

Legends of the Middle Ages relate
how an evil spirit of disaster was want
to pursue certain ancient noble fami-
lies of that time, and to at length ut
terly wreck their fortunes and obliter-
ate their very name from the Baronial
Register.
Such a Nemesis seems to have fol-
lowed the house of Hamilton in the
United States. This illustrious fami-
iy traces its ancestry back to Alexan-
der Hamilton, who perished on the
so-called field of honor at the hands of
Aaron Burr.
Beginning with this disaster, the
fortunes of the family have been over
shadowed by an evil genius. From the
death of Alexander Hamilton to the
dishonorable dismissal Of Lieutenant
Louis McLane Hamilton, his great
great-grandson, the men Of this distin-
guished family have suffered misfor-
tunes and misery in very marked de-
gree; and there has been common
Characteristic running all through this
remarkable chain of events. In all the
tragic chapters of the Hamilton history
there has been a baleful enchantress
It is not strange that students of that
history have with one accord remarked
upon the fact that the charms Of some
beautiful woman had in each instance
been largely responsible for the un-
doing of these mems lives. Alexander
Hamilton himself, despite the halo of
martyrdom which has been cast about
him since he fell in the fateful duel
with burr, was known to have been
involved in many escapades with the
fair sex; and this side of his nature
constituted his principal weakness.
John Church Hamilton, his son, was
conspicuous in she New York of nine
decades since for the large number of
breach of promise cases in which he
was the defendant. It is said that he
was obliged to pay heavy damages in
more than one instance.
His son, General Alexander Hamil-
ton, was well known and long remem
bered for his notorious gallantry, not
only in the Mexican war, but in other
directions as WELL He is said to have
been expelled from the Second Reform
church of Tarrytown, and to have
threatened on more than one occasion
to kill his wife.
Schuyler Hamilton, the brother of
General Alexander Hamilton, served
with bravery in the Mexican war, but
was afterwards given hundred
lashes for desertion-perhaps the Sc
verest misfortune that can be inflicted
on a soldier. His son, Schuyler Ramil-
ton, Jr., found lis first marriage a
very unhappy one, and after obtaining
divorce, married Miss Jane Byrd
Mercer, who belonged to one Of the
oldest families in Baltimore. His wife
took an overdose of morphine by mis-
take and died. He himself failed in
business and went through bank
ruptcy.
Robert Ray Hamilton, a grandson Of
Alexander Hamilton, was involved in
various scandalous and criminal pro-
ceedings and at last his booy was
found floating down stream in Snake
river in lonely part of Wyoming.
Dr.. Allen McLane Hamilton has
been divorced and has married twice,
and his son. Louis McLane Hamilton,
is the officer whose dismissal for using
offensive language in the presence OF
the wife Of a brother officer, IS the
event which called to mind the shad-
owy chain Of disaster linking together
the generations Of the house Of Hamil-
L A