The Savannah morning news., 1903-09-29
ROMANCE OF 81
REVEALED IN WILL.
why Cant. MnniEnult, Z. S. A., and
His Beautiful Wife Becnme Ex-
patriates.

Why Capt. MOnigault, Z. >. A. ana
His beautiful Wife Becnme Ex-
patriates.
From the New York Herald.
In the dry legal papers filed with
the state controller by James J. Nc
Evilly, a lawyer, of No. 80 Liberty
street. are revealed a tragedy and a
romance that date back to the days
of the Civil War. Mr.. McEVilly was
employed by Controller Nathan L.
Miller to collect a transfer tax from
the heirs of Charlotte Morris Mani
gault, once a woman of this city, but
who had lived abroad for forty years
before her death, in Brighton, England
Paul Manigault, according to the pa
pers placed on file by Mr.. McEvilly,
belonged to a family long prominent
in the political and social life of South
Carolina. He was educated at West
Point. in a class that sent out many
officers who achieved distinction in
both Confederate and Federal armies.
Mr. Manigault was stationed in this
city before the war, but he never closed
the old family mansion in Charleston
where in the winter he and his young
wife entertained in a lavish fashion.
Mrs. Manigault before her marriage
was Miss Charlotte Morris, a de-
scendant of GouVerneur. Morris, who
settled in the upper part of what is
now New York city early in the eigh-
tenth century. She is said to have
been one of the most beautiful of New
York's women in the ante-war days.
She and her husband were as popular
here as they were in their Southern
home.
l. was said that Mrs. Mangault ex-
erted a great influence upon her hus-
band Naturally she was loyal to the
Union, but her husband could not
bring himself to make war upon the
state in which he was born and in
whose history his forefathers had
written their names. When it be-
came necessary for the young officer
to make a final choice he resigned his
commission in the army, and, deplor-
ing the condition of civil strife, eXpa-
triated himself. Capt. Manigault had
no intention Of quitting the United
States for all time, and as proof of
that he closed his home in Charleston
without removing the furniture. The
house was not opened again until
more than forty years later, when the
old furniture was found still in place,
dust covered and falling into decay.
Capt Manigault ever felt that he
had failed in his duty when he left his
native land. He often said that he
should have fought on one side or the
other, but he never, it is said even to
his wife, made it known which side
should have had his service. Feeling
the weight of chagrin heavily, he never
returned to America. For ten years
he and his wife wandered about Eu-
rope. He finally died in England in
1870, prematurely aged and utterly
wretched in spirit.
NT,.e. HaIA
her husband, and her heart was broken
when he died. To her friends in Amer
lea she ever wrote, saying. Next year
l shall return" The next year never
arrived, and Mrs. Manigault died as
had her husband, an expatriate Her
New York furniture had never been
taken out of storage, and she did not
see the Southern home again, a joy
and a sadness which she had long
promised herself.
At the death of Mrs. Manigault, the
estate left was willed to two nephews,
one surgeon in the United States
navy, the other a resident of South
Carolina. The property, which is VAL
ued at nearly $1,000, 600, was nearly all
in New York, which fact made it pos
sible for this state to collect a con-
siderable transfer tax.
Mrs. Manigault made several in
vestments in America, through a James
Smith, of New York, who was her
general agent. When she died it was
found that she had left double will
--tlsSr is, will disposing of her estate
In England, and another disposing of
her estate in America. The will was
probated in England, and the English
executors wanted to obtain possession
OF the personal estate controlled by
her agents in New York, and it was
when an effort to do this was mazda
that her heirs in America thought
about probating her will here and
through some proceeding in New York
courts. stop the transfer of the estate
in Smiths hands to the English exc
cutors.