The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1911-03-02
A Message
An Ingenious
Way Of Leav-
ing a Request
By F. A. mitchell
Copyright, 1910. by American Press
Association.

oN'' VIM were ueiu as slaves. 1t Is
Of brick, with large pillars in front,
and, considering its age, is in re-
markable state of preservation. This
Is because recent owner has put il
in repair.
Like other houses of its kind dating
back to the seventeenth century. II
was built out Of the proceeds of ne
groes captured In Africa and sold as
slaves In America. But the slave trade
and Its twin brother. piracy. were
not in that day deprecated as they
are, or rather would be, today. He
who built the house referred to be-
came one Of the most prominent men
or his time. Richard Granville was
not his name. but in bringing out the
antecedents of his descendants II Is a
far safer name to use than his own.
He began life as sailor. visiting ev-
cry country where there was trading
TO be done, and few of his older
slaves. who were house servants and
thus enabled the more readily to be-
come conversant with his secrets
handed down a tradition that their
master started his fortune in piracy.
Be this as it may. up to the middle
or the last century his descendants
did not deny that much Of his money
mad been made in the slave trade. In
his old age his conscience troubled
him. and those who were nearest him
said that he desired to make some
reparation for his misdeeds. He had
a statue of himself made Of bronze
and set 1t up on a pedestal In a bay
window Of his library. The left hand
rests on an anchor, and the right holds
a sextant-not mock sextant; real
one. though not Of brass. but of the
same material as the statue. He left
orders that no headstone should mark
his grave, and 1t was supposed that
he intended the statue as a substitute
for one. At any rate. no one now
knows where he is buried.
Different generations Of his descend
ants discussed the statue and won
dered at the within which led their
progenitor to erect it, One thing
about it excited special attention.
Every morning the sun. shining in
upon 1t, strikes the eyepiece of the
sextant and, passing through the tube,
casts a solar image on the opposite
wall. The track of this round spot of
light changes with the season, travers-
ing a slightly different path each day.
iS hof Id
the owners Of the Granville estate.
The only inscription on the statue. or.
rather. its pedestal, is the date Of
Richard Granville's birth. And not
only is the date given. but the hour
and minute.
statue probably the giving Of this
minute information was most discuss
ed. No one who saw it could remem-
Der having seen any memorial giving
either the hour and minute of a birth
or the hour and minute Of a death.
But one generation after another pass
ed away. and no plausible reason for
either the statue or it's singular in
scription was suggested.
During the civil war Elwood Gran
vile. the owner of the estate at that
time. fought for the maintenance Of
the system in the introduction Of
which his progenitor took so impOr-
tant a part. Colonel Granville was
religious man and one Of those who
traced authority for slavery from the
Bible. After the war he returned to
his plantation and began to run II
anew under the system that had been
born during the struggle.
A few papers that had belonged to
the original Granville were handed
down through his descendants. They
had been preserved time and again by
different persons, but appeared to con-
tain nothing to throw any light on the
puzzles connected with the writer or
receiver. One day Colonel Granville.
while amusing himself with these
documents. read a letter from the
founder Of his house to a clergyman In
which the former said that he would
like to leave at his death fund for the
benefit Of the negro race in America,
but the time would not come for per.
haps one or two centuries when such
q bequest could be utilized.
Probably the statement had been
read a hundred times by Richard Gran
ville's descendants without making any
marked impression But Colonel Gran
VILE read it at time when the negro
slave had been just emancipated and
called, in all the ignorance induced by
his condition. to citizenship. The
meaning Of the statement, 'The time
would not come for perhaps one or
two centuries" was plain to him.
More than one century had passed
and brought the changed conditions.
This led Colonel Granville, who was
eager to help the negro. now that he
had become a freeman. onward and up
ward, to think Of the benefits that
would accrue from such bequest as
was mentioned in the letter.
Then suddenly two connected ideas
entered Colonel Granville's brain. The
frst was. Might not the writer have
secretly carried out his intention, leav.
ing a fund for the purpose that would
turn up a century or two after his
death? And might not the statue have
something to do with its location?
u