The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-01
BY MRS. J. M. DE CoTTEs.

gard picked up the golden haired. blue eyed little girl and petted her for a mo- ment- Then he placed a burning match in her baby fingers and held her until she touched the fuse of a cannon Thus, the child. at the tender age of three. born In the Russian palace, the pet of the nobility of all the nations and the daugh- ter Of the great war Governor, fired the hrst gun in the greatest war of modern times,
 sAfter the first shot the artillery boomed for hours, but the child and her mother had been taken to a place of safety. It is not necessary to deal furth- CT with the conflict itself in telling the story.
 throughout the war Douschkas name was frequently heard. She became the roster child of tho State Legislature. and by special enactment that body named her The Child of South Carolina. Yet It was not until the days following the war, those days which were blacker than war itself, that Douschka became the idol of the people.
 Governor Pickens died In 1S6i On his plantation at Edgefield were his slaves, "ho nad refused to leave him, despite the tact he had told them they could go if
 
 negroes about his death bed and chose from among the oldest of them his pail bearers, and then gave into their keep ing his wife and little Douschka. These slaves. when freed, were never the source or the last trouble. but any one who lived in the South in the day following the war Know how the people suffered at the hands of the freed negroes
 In the carly seventies tho former slaves of Edgewood County, South Caro- ilna, became threatening. A lot of un- principied white scoundreIs had egged them on to dsds of mischief and things came to such a pass that neither life nor property was secure. As conditions grew worse the negroes gathered at Edgefeld. They swarmed through the streets and frightened the whites from their homes. They eventually formed a drunken mob and threatened to burn the town
 Just as the town was about to be de- stroyed something weird and terrifying happened. From the four winds rode hundreds of strange looking beings, clad in long robes of red that hung from their heads to their feet. In all 1.500 of them came. all on horseback, all dressed alike They gathered at the centre of the town and then formed in long column.
 At the head rode a slight, red robbed figure. It was Douschka. She guided her great horse through every street time and time again. The superstit1ous negroes fled in terror from the town. and hid in the woods. The silent. solemn march was kept up by these red robbed members of the Ku Klux until every colored person had left the town. From that day not one word of discontent was ever heard from the freed slaves of Edge wood County, Douschka was known from that time as Joan of Arc
 When 1t fell to Douschka's lot to manage the plantation when she grew to young womanhood she performed her duties with matchless skill. She was splendid horsewoman, and every day rode over the estate.
 ''In the fox chase. a sport in which she delighted. she always rode the leading horse. and most often got the brush As & farmer she learned everything that must be done about the old plantation. To her belongs the honor of establishing the bonus system of pay for freed slaves. In addition to their salary she gave them a percentage of the proceeds.
 When Douschka grew to womanhood she married Dr. Dugas, brilliant bank CT, of Augusta, Ga. To them were born two daughters. Six years ago, while she was visiting her mother at Edgefeld, she sickened. and after a short illness died.
 Gray haired negroes who had been her fathers slaves carried the casket in which she slept to the shade of the oaks, and there, beside the grave of her great parent, another grave was waiting When the casket was opened at the edge of the grave those who leaned to take a last look at the dead face of the wopan saw about her neck a beautiful necklace. which the Tsaritza of Russia herself had hung there on the day the golden haired little girl left the Romanoff Place"