The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-06-24

DEATH. STORIES OF HIS EAR
LY DAYS IN MUSCOGEE COUN-
TY, GEORGIA.
1t is strange but probably true
that the best known person born in
Columbus, Ga, the one person whose
name was known in two hemispheres
was a blind haif-idiotic negro slave,
Blind Tom" whose death in Hobo
ken, N. j., has been announced by the
daily press.
Blind Tom" was born about 65
years ago on the plantation of Gen.
James Bethume, three miles south
east of COlumbcs, on the TalbOtton
road. He was one of a family of
twenty-one children, oil of whom
are dead except four His mother,
Charity Virgins, lived until year
or two ego, passing most of her de-
Ginning years in modest little home
on Twenty-Seventh street, Rose Hill,
just opposite the site of the present
secondary industrial school. Her death
occurred in Birmingham, where one
of her daughters was then living.
The surviving brothers and sis
tiers of Blind Tom" are as follows:
Dan Virgins, veteran employee of
the Palace Stables, Columbus; Frank
Virgins, janitor at the First Baptist
church, Columbus; Emily Carter,
whose home is in Columbus; Anton
cite Ligress of Birmingham.
Born the son of slaves, Tom Wig
gins was nearly blind and more than
half idiotic, and that he was to be-
come the wonder of the cultured
and psychological world could not
have been surmised by the most ex-
travagant Imagination.
How His Genius Was Discovered.
That the stupid negro child had
genius was not suspected by any
one--it seemed too wildly preposter-
ous-and the discovery of this ge-
MUS came in a way almost dramatic
Experts who have studied the won
derful gifts state that while music
ally he was entirely destitute of in
vention ir even the trace of original
ity, yet he was marvelously initiative.
The half-idiotic negro child sat in
the slaves quarters and in the big
yard and listened to the sounds that
drifted out from the parlors, where
a piano was played almost daily by
members of the family. One day
the Bethune family and their guests.
assembled at dinner, were startled
and amazed by the sound of almost
divine music from the parlor In
vestigation showed the little blind
slave seated on the stool and play
ing marvelously, perfectly, with the
intuition of genius, the most difficult
pieces that had been rendered by ac-
complished pianists who had been
visitors at the home. He had crawl
ed into the parlor secretly, while that
part of the house was deserted, and
climbed up on the piano stool.
Known World Wide.
The fame of such musical genius,
which seemed almost unearthly.
could not be confined to one locality
Blind Tom" as he was called, gave
concerts in this section of the coun-
try and in the early sixties was car
ried to New York, where ne was ex-
hibited as a phenomenon. He gave
concerts all over this country and in
Europe, and his name has been a
familiar one in encyclopedias and
musical works OF a generation. He
could reproduce, faultlessly, the most
intricate pieces of music without
knowledge of notes or technique it
was simply and purely imitation, but
most wonderful imitation.
= Left Columbus is Years Ago.
Blind Tom" left Columbus some
fifteen years ago, never to return.
Mrs. Leerche, at whose home he died,
signed a contract with his family and
became his manager. His mother ac-
companied him and travelled with her
son through the United States. She
returned to Columbus a few years
ago, claiming that she had been de-
serted by those who had charge Of
her sons concerts.
One of her sons says