Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1904-01-15

importer of silks.
At years Of age she was placed
with family by the name of Hus.
sey at Nantucket and later moved to
Boston where she married James W.
Smith, a wealthy Cuban. Smith was
friend of Garrison, Phillips and
other well-known abontonists, and
before his death in 1874 he made his
wife promise to devote a portion Of
the money left her in freeing the
slaves. The greater part of his for
tune consisted Of bonds to the amount
of $45 000 In 1S4S Nanny" mar
ried John j. Pleasant, who had been
an overseer for her former husband
and soon after came to California
around the Horn.
on the day of her arrival in San
Francisco many of the wealthy mer.
chants and mine owners participated
in an auction of her services as
cook, and as high as $500 month was
bid She finally declined to agree to
| the arrangement, however, and open.
ed boarding house on Washington
street, which was for years the lead
ing boarding house in the city. Among
those who lived at the place were
the best-known men of San Francis
co of that day, including Sharon,
Newton Booth, Broderick, Terry and
others equally famous.
In 1858 she returned East and met
John Brown, with whom she had had
considerable correspondence. She
claimed that she had a meeting with
Brown at Chatham, Canada, at which
time she presented him with Cana
dian draft Tor 100000 Brown was to
organize the raid and Nanny" was
to work as an ag'tator among the
slaves. She stated that the failure
of the raid was due largely to the fact
that Brown was premature, starting
the attack before his forces were full.
ly organized On Browns person at
the time was found a note signed
"W. L. p" as 1t was supposed, Mrs.
Pleasant claimed that the signature
was IN. e. p" the NJ signed by her
giving the appearance of W. After
the failure of the raid Mrs. Pleasant
returned to San Francisco.
The Bell and Sharon Case.
"Mammy's" connection with the
Bell and Sharon case is filled with
mystery. There have been claims
that she practiced voodoo rites in
both cases. Stories were circulated
of strange ceremonies in the Bell
mansion, and in the Sharon case II
was testified to that Sarah Althea
acting under "Mammys" advice
went TO a graveyard on a certain May
day and planted in the ground a shirI
and pair OF socks belonging to the
millionaire.
Mrs. Pleasant was the backer OF
Sarah Althea in her fight for the
Sharon millions to the extent of many
thousands OF dollars, and after the
death of Terry locked after the un
fortunate woman during the early
stages of her insanity finally having
her sent to Stockton. II has been
claimed that the money paid out in
the Sharon case came from the Bel
estate. NANNY" was housekeeper
in the Bell home for many years and
handled the money expended in run
ming the household. After Bells
death she looked after his widows
business affairs.
When Bell died he was supposed to
be worth s1O,00O,0OO at least, Tho
appraisement reduced the amount ia
less than a quarter of that sum, and
the litigation over the estate is still
going on, with little show for even a
few hundred thousands when final dis
tribution is made Bell died sudden
ly as the result Of fall over the ban
listers in his own house, and there
was much talk at the time connect
ing Nanny" with the affair, but
nothing came Of It, Later there was
a mysterious assault on Fred Bell.
Nanny" always seemed able to
obtain an unlimited amount OF money
from the Bell estate. In the settling
up of the Bell affairs deeds we're
found showing that the Bell home.
stead was actually in Mrs. Peasants
name. She also made claim TO dia'
monds aud other jewelry in a safe
deposit box in the Donohoe-Kelly
bank appraised at $4,000, and the
ownership is still a matter Of litiga
ton Nanny" claimed that she let
the Jewels out 10 those who desired
10 display them at functions.
Nanny" Pleasant was supposed