The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-11-23
wHIrrLAw REID IN ALABAMA.

0nce . Citsen,s ana Run . riantasiea
 in lalrte County, Forty Years Ago.
 To the Editor of The Mobile Register: :: maSs ts'a@ name sa as josurnaiiss sn1af sa and aaa politician, probably second to none throughout the Northern States. When the war broke out he was appointed cspta1 os ao sne hos a,as 0 s ssaa and afterwards oh that Of Rosecfahs $. meanwhile acting az a special corre- spondent for The Cincinnati Gazette. In following the army invasion he be- came enamored of our Southern cli- mate and foresaw the possibilities of the South, which until recent years have been slowly developing.
 After the war MT. Reid tried cotton jana. with results not known, but pre- sumably q failure. as in the spring of 1t6f he removed to Alabama, renting the old Mitchell plantation. located Clarke County. near the Tombigbee River.
 1t Is related a great deal of his equipment was shipped from Louisiana to Mobile. thence up the river by the barrels of mess pork by way of pro- visions, A man named Williams was employed as overseer and hundred or more negro hoe hands" were picked up at sl.5o per day, other planters paying 50 cents. Being short of teams. Mir. Reid obtained every one in the neigh borhuod, paying, 1t Is said. $4 50, the regular price being out $l.50 per day. fact that his horses were poor and lame. his machinery broken, his equip ment in bad shape, and he stranger in strange country, made the exper-, iment hazardous one, which resulted in complete failure, and MT. Reid closed out his interests in the fall of the same year. returning to his home in Ohio.
 Little information can be gained of MT Reid's private life during his short stay in Alabama, as forty-thre years have elapsed. It Is said he lived very simply in the old Mitchell home, very plain, medium sized house on the Cof- ieeville road. A negro cook kept the house clean and comfortable. and the monotony of plantation life was only occasionally relieved by parties or gentlemen and ladies who visited Mir. heid from Mobile. One authority says they usually brought their horses and the ladies especially were expert. rid- CTS and daring horsewomen. No doubt they were officers and their wives, who were stationed at Mobile. as MT. Reid
 At this time there was. ferry from Clarke to Washington County, called the L. J. Wilson Ferry, located mile above Jackson Landing, Yet there was no public road. and no town t, at saiitpa; a
 
 the road which ran from Comeevilie to N ilson's Ferry, in front ot the Mitch- ell home was q long and lonesome one. The Beekman and Jordan piantations the Jordans were absent in bladon Springs that summer. When the tn- habitants had occasion to take the boat they usually. did so at Beekhams
 Mir. Reid's recent history Is more fa- miliar. Upon his retirement from plan- tation life he returned 70 ono where he wrote Ohio in the War us6S-l He Tribune and succeeded Horace Greeley In 1872, becoming its editor and princi- pal owner. About this time Mir. Reid married a very wealthy iady or New York. daughter of D. v: Milis. ment as Minitser to Germany, but ac- cepted the nomination for Ntce-Presi- dent in 1892, and the appointment ot Minister to France, lSSS-SZ lie vas made special Ambassador to Queen Vie toria's Jubilee; member of the peace commission which terminated the span. ish war; special ambassador to Great Britain for the coronation or King Ed, ward VII and in isoS oSrt wos os st ppanrs Tames which is probably the most conspicuous position in the gift of the people aa well as the most Important post.
 As Ambassador to the court oL St; si7 Soo nar annum, an allowance for cantSOreppt sar,HHv p1 exnenses of $s,000. and an allowance for clerk hire of S70o. He Is provided with three seSretaries. is ger generally known. however. that the axnenses of the embassy are double these amounts, and none but I1;nl man of great wealth could hold the posii,on: ira ly to literature. among his writings bsinS After the War" (lsssJ. Schools Of Journslism tls1D: Tne Nmsnsner senorer Fem m dencies ffS7s( and Town Hall Sug- gestions" USSl.) ,, 4-,
 The Ambassador came from old url- tan stock, born eight miles from Aenia. died onIy a short time ago. His daugh- fer was recently married to. Hon. John ward, eauerry to His Majesty, Edward VII. :. and he was given the L; IL. D. ae- gree at the University or Aiancnss'er'