The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-10-03

A@LST DSGoHHlhB tne motner or LOuT children-three boys and a girl-Mrs.
 Black. the wife of James Black, died
 abou: the year 1887 or 1898. In the
 meantime. Black had arQuired a con- fortable little fortune sOr those days
 and had the confidence and esteem of all his neighbors, but had never sue I ceeded in appeasing his father-in-lay,
 Shaw. whose dislike seems to have be-
 come intensified after his daughters death. During the summer of 1899. while Black was alone at home,' suffer-
 ing from the effects of protracted fe- yer, and considerably enfeebled and re-
 duced. Shaw came there and made an | unprovoked assault upon him with a heavy stick, striking him over the head
 a number of blows and almost killing him before relief caem in the shape of Blacks dog. which. having heard the noise. rushed in. and seizing Shaw by the throat, almost killed him before | turning loose its hold. This caused in- f1amation in Blacks eyes, which result ed in the loss of his sight. After suffi- clently regaining his strength, he start ed for Philadelphia for treatment, but
 on the way was persuaded by some one to stop at Cincinnati and try cele- brated eye doctor there. He did so. but
 the doctor proved to be an unprincipled empiric. and completely destroyed his sight. He then returned to Washing ton. after an absence of about a year, coming by way of New Orleans, where he went to see the justly celebrated MT Stone, who examined his eyes and informed him that the Cincinnati quack had forever destroyed his eyesight, and that his remaining days would be in darkness: This proved to be true.
 After returning to Washington Black found that Shaw had administered upon his estate and had gotten away with all his property. Administration upon a live mans estate is certainly an
 anomaly in the law. but this, is an in stance of 1t, and Black was never able to recover his property. Black was blind and without dollar, and in those days lawyers were scarce in that sec tion and not much given to charity or wholly contingent fee practice, while Shaw, on the contrary, had money and had already employed the best lawyers in the country. And so Black was robbed by his father-in-law, after hav- ing been deprived of one of his most valuable senses by him. But Black was not altogether desolate. There then lived on Red river, on a plantation owned by them, two most excellent gentlemen, Jacob and John Buzzard. Their home was on high bluff on Red river, known as Buzzard's bluff, then in Lafayette, now in Miller county, Ark. They knew Black well, and. learning his condition, invited him to make his home with them. He accept ed their invitation and lived with them for about two years. or until some time during the year 1s42, when he learned that Dr. Isaac N. Jones, who had re- moved from Bowie county, Tex, to Washington about a year previously, was becoming widely known as a skill full physician and surgeon. At his re- quest the Buzzards sent him to Wash- ington to see Dr. Jones and have him examine his eyes. After examining them Dr. Jones informed him that there was very slight possibility of restor- ing the right eye, but that the sight of the left one was irretrievably lost, and that it would be necessary for him to come to Washington, where he could see him constantly Black replied that his utter destitution would prevent this. "No," said the doctor, you can come and live with me. I am able and will ing to take care of you, and trust to the future for compensation. Dr. Isaac N. Jones was was father, and at that time I was an infant, just beginning to pratt tie. ,..... Black came. to my fathers and lived with us as member of our family un- til his death, June 22, some thirty years. My father used his best skill to restore his eyesight, but without suc- cess, and finally told him 1t would be useless to longer torture him with treatment when there was no hope, but that he should be an inmate of his home while he lived and that he would be sufficiently compensated if he would look after and advise his young boys there were four of us--whiie he was away from home attending to his pa tients. of whom there were very many. My father died in February, 1s5s-- hllleu uy tHG SAplOSiuH VI d ctcdtu UOti" CT on his plantation-but Black, by common consent of the family, re- mained with us.
 After the death of my mother, in Jan- uary, 1867, took him to my home at Washington, where he lived until his death.
 Time and again when was boy he would say to me that, notwithstanding his great misfortune, God had blessed him in rare manner by giving him such a good home and that he would repay it by disclosing to me his secret of tempering steel when I should arrive at maturity and be able to utilize 1t to my own advantage But when that time arrived and he desired to reveal the secret, he found, to his great dis may and grief, that he had forgotten the process.-Correspondence of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.