The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-10-07

he encleses clipping from b,
Mail and Breeze, which viii prov.
interesting reading TO the residents Of
the islands and should it prove true
it viii assist in clearing up a mystery
connected with the death of one OF
the most notorious characters the Unit.
ed States ever produced. The Mail and
Breeze says:
FROM QUANTRELL. s RELATIVE
We give the following letter re-
eeived few days ago for what it
is worth. If the statements in it are
true it is certainly an interesting con-
tribution to the history Of Kansas:
Editor Mail and Breeze: / see quite
a discussion in the papers as to whether
Quantrell is alive or not
If you will take my word for it
Quantrell is not alive. He died Febru-
airy IS, 1906. on the island of Maui,
in Hawaii He had real property both
on Hawaii and Maui. He had two sons,
one at Oahu and one at Honolulu. I
was with him in prison at Louisville,
KY, and knew of his mysterious escape
at the time. After the war / met him
in Montana. / went with him then to
Prince William county, Virginia, near
Washington city We went over the
old battle-ground at Bull Run and col
leeted several bits of history and male
map of the battle-ground. Quantrell
went under an assumed name.
We visited General Robert Z. Lee
and were well entertained by Captain
Tyler of Haymarket. We married
sisters in North Carolina. We moved
to Nebraska where Quantren bought
and sold lands He did not act as an
agent, but bought all that he could
get. Some tie aaid for and some he
only gave notes . I'd mortgages for. He I
got deeds % large amounts. The ef,un- i
try was sparseiy settled and he sold |
to the best advantage.
We both sold out and went to Mis-
souri, in 1872. We stopped with a
man by the name of Martin Rice, in
Jackson county, near Kansas City.
Rice was a weIl-informed man and J;
a gentleman, and good at writing
poetry. He had a keen insight into
national affairs and was pretty g,od
ananeier. QuantrelI and I both teok
quite an interest in writing and copy
ing many of Rice Is pieces of poetry
and this seemed to please him great
feal. We took our families to a place
aear HarrisonviIle in Cass county and
eft them with family by the name
# Ford We went TO the Hawaiian
Islands during the Harrison administra-.
ion. &
Quantrell conceived the idea that the
stands would eventually be annexed to
he United States and he had con-
fderable interest in the islands. We !
lad scheme on foot which we Thought
ve could work through Martin Rice.
Ne went to the queen but could not r
.et personal conference with her and
anne to the United States with proper
Y matured ideas but with no definite I
arrangement, but thought we could in $
crest Mr. Rice enough to get him to t
utline plan and by blended effort I
re could get executive action a little
ater, make Quantren's son famous,
nd both profit by it financially. +
We went and called on Rice again a
ut found him utterly incapable of II
teering any kind of policy through Z
5 he was too far in his dotage. He a
-as quite childish and his usefulness il
ad narrowed down till small circle il
round him contained it. He was {
riting. then and preparing book of
is poems and took more delight in n
liking about the Sniabar hills andi L
aiding to us Among the Hills of :
niabar" than anything we could :,
ring to his mind in the way of shap- G.
q the history of the islands. We tc
eat back and Quantrell despaired,
IT later he saw his plans loom up in q
ality. He rejoiced at it, came back m
San Francisco and one of his sons II
me with him and engaged in bust - -
IS, but at the breaking ont of the f.
war he went to Mi in
Iigan and enlisted in the 33rd Mi g
igan Infantry and took part in the =
title of Santiago. "
Young Quantrell is prominent in 81
.lities and is a Republican. The other VI
Y is prominent citizen of Hawaii. y
lantrell has daughter married and "a
ing in Kansas. I came TO Kansas
see her am in my s7th year My 81
zee is a constant reader of your -
per, as her husband IS a subscriber. ",
e showed me the cartoon, showing pc
r fathers bones and with her con ke
ut and of my own volition I write
is letter.-Aaron B. Russell, Mullin- on