The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1904-06-04
SCOTCH DREAMER's PALACE.
All That Remains of NunkittricL's
CuIaai.atiuu scheme,

All That Remains of NunLittriCk'l
CoIoni.otiun scheme,
To few passing au old building no.
many miles from IIayton would it APP
/ peal as romantic Fifty years ago
nevertheless, it had for its occupant,
people OF high birth. says laytor
! wis correspondent Of the AIilwau
kce Sentinel people Of wealth aud
refinement Inside it WAS q veritabll
palace. Rare works Of art, costly fur
niture everything that the finest taste
could dictate or wealth procure
adorned it.
In 1858 Il Scottish laird named Mum
kitTick, owning vast estates in Perth.
shire, conceived the idea of emigrating
I 70 America ana founding a colony Of
his couutryuen in the west.
| lie disposed of his property in Scot
land and, through New York land
agency purchased an immense tract
Of land in what is now Manltowoc
county about ten miles east Of this
village. He was assured that, though
timbercd the land was wonderfully
fertile, ana could be made to yield a
competency for 1000 people
Tie laird. possessing the confidence
and esteem of his former tenants, cas-
lily induced numbers of them to make
the voyage across the Atlantic with
him Lured by tales of the wonderful
fertility Of the land and their faith I'M
bounded in the man who led them,
their bitter disappointment TO tiud the
elysjum of their dreams a dreary waste
Of swamp and marsh may well be
imagined IN all the 5000 acres pur-
chased by Nunkttricl but q few hun
bred gave even slight promise of pro.
0uctjyeneSS True. the land was re-
markedly fertile. but TO clear the
swamps and drain the marshes meant
the expenditure Of thousands of dol.
lars aud half century Of time
biSuay nc the ruin starisg him in the
face, hut still mindful OF the plight Of
those he had induced to wander so far
from their Tones, Munkittrlck further
depleted his waning fortune ny sending
the company home with the exception
Of q few families who voluntarily cast
thNr lot with His
The laird proposed to erect a palace
in the wilderness and furnish il in a
style the like Of which the country had
never seen
The household furnishings were
brought by boat 10 Nanltowoc and
there stored until the dwelling could
be completed. With uuabatcl energy
the Laird erected a rude cabin of tam
arack logs
II was not until the end Of the third
year that the dwelling was completed.
owing to the difficulty Of Transporting
With the driving Of the last
nail the whole Of the lairds fortune
had taken wings. Fifty acres Of the
best land had been cleared and Sown
10 wheat ana oats but it produced
barely enough 10 provide the mereSt
necessities Of life aud by the time the
house was ready for occupancy they
we're in sore straits indeed
Shortly after the mansion had been
cited up with its sumptuous furnish
ngs the aird's wife died. succumbiug
% the change Of climate. The sickcn-
ne gnauations from the dauk cXpauSe
4 marsh and swamp, the wet and the
old MI c0nduCed 10 produce that dis
'ase So fatal In It's effect and 50 In
idious in It's approach. one by one
he three children sickcncd ana died Of
ne same malady until only the laird
himself remained broken hearted,
in mind and body Finally
%, too, saccumhcd ana was laid 20 ,
est I'm a grave beside the four other
nrmbers Of his family. r.