The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-09

and when the boy refused the officer struck at him with his sword. To pro- tect his head the boy threw up his left arm. The sword cut his head and arm
 and he carried the scars to his grave No Wonder He Hated the English Next the officer ordered Robert Jack son to clean the boots. He, too, re- fused. Again the sword was used and
 the elder brother was felled bleeding
 and senseless. To Camden, 40 miles
 distant, the two wounded boys were
 taken. How brutal their captors were
 may be imagined from the fact that in
 the long journey no food was allowed
 to the brothers, and when streams were forded they were not permitted to
 drink, although .they were in a fever
 from their wounds. In Camden they
 were put into a wretched. filthy hole
 with 250 other unfortunates. Soon
 smallpox developed and both boys con tracted the disease. Dead and dying
 were left together. Out of this horror
 Mrs. Jackson took them when an ex-
 change of prisoners was arranged, and
 started home. She had only one horse. On this Robert was lifted. The mother held him secure, while Andrew walked
 alondside bareheaded, barefooted and half dead Through storm and sum- shine they crept along. Two days after
 reaching home Robert died. Andrew was an invalid for months. Then the
 mother died and Andrew Jackson, less than 15 years old, was alone in the world. No wonder he hated the Eng.
 fish. The bitterness of that most tragic
 period of his life he never forgot ol | forgave.
 How he lived for the next few years is not known. There Is tradition that he served for time as schoolmaster
 Hard must have been the lot of any
 pupils of that hot-tempered youth
 Tradition has 1t, too, that when he took
 a short course in Queens college at Charlotte the tail of his shirt fiirted
 out of holes In his trousers, so ragged
 was he. When he was 1s he began to study law and when he was 23 he went
 over the mountains into what now is
 Tennessee, his friend John McNairy
 having been appointed a judge and young Jackson having been made solic- itor general or prosecuting attorney for the whole region. with headquarters at Nashville.
 If there was one office in the whole territory that was hazardous 1t was
 that of solicitor general. There were
 good many wild characters in that new country and they considered any one who prosecuted them in criminal
 cases or acted for the other side ir civil cases as a personal enemy. Every one went armed. A session of court
 Barely ended without an encounter ii
 not killing. It required brave man to act as prosecuting attorney. It was not long before Jackson was not only feared but respected. Every one knew he would fight.
 He was very tall and very thin, but remarkably strong. He had a passion for wrestling. He had a passion, too to make headway in the world. Out of his earnings he bought land and laid the basis for a large estate. Then
 he fell in love. He had lived for a short time in the home of the Widow Donel-
 son, whose daughter Rachel had been deserted by her husband, Lewis Rob- ards. From Virginia, whither Richards had gone, came a printed report that
 Robards had obtained a divorce. Ac- cepting the report as true, Jackson and