The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-03-05
FoREWoRD.

To the Reader of this Work:
In submitting Captain Carriers
strange manuscript TO you in book
form, believe that few words rela-
tive to this remarkable personality
will be of interest.
My first recollection of Captain Car
ter is of the few months he spent at
my fathers home in Virginia, just
prior TO the opening of the Civil war.
] was then child of but five years,
yet / well remember the tall. dark,
smOoth-faced, athletic man whom
called Uncle Jack.
He seemed always to he laughing
and he entered into the sports of the
children with the same hearty good
fellowship he displayed toward those
pastimes In which the men and wOm-
en- of his own age INDUCED; or he
would sit for an hour at a time enter
tanning nv old grandmother with
stories of his strange. wild life in all
parts of the world. We all loved him.
and our slaves fairly worshiped the
ground he trOd
He was a splendid specimen of man.
hood. standing a good two inches over
six feet. broad Of shoulder and mar
row of hip. with the carriage of the
trained fighting man. His features
were regular and clear cut, his hair
black and closely cropped. while his
eyes were of steel gray, rejecting
strong and loyal character, filed with
fire and initiative.
When the war broke out he left MS.
nor did / see him again for some If
teen or sixteen years. When he re-
turned I have seen him sit for hours
gazing off into space. his face set in a
look of wistful longing and hopeless
misery; and Mt night he would sit thus
looking up into the heavens at what
did not know until I read his manu-
script years afterward.
He remained with us for about a
year and then went to New York.
where he purchased a little place on
the Hudson. where visited him.
He told me at this time that If any
thing should happen to him he wished
me to take charge of his estate, and
he gave me key to compartment
in tbe safe which stood in his study,
telling me / would find his will there
and some personal Instructions which
he had me pledge myself to carry out
with absolute fidelity.
After / had retired for the night
have seen him from my window stand
ing in the moonlight on the brink of
the bluff overlooking the Hudson with
his arms stretched out to the heavens
as though In appeal.
Several months after had returned
home from nv last visit, the first of
March. 1886, think, received a tele-
gram from him asking me to come to
him at once.
I arrived at the little station. about
a mile from his grounds, and the
livery man told me he had some very
bad news for me; the Captain had
been found dead shortly after day
light that very morning by the watch
man attached to an adjoining prop
erty.
For some reason this news did not
me. but hurried out to his
place as quickly as possible.
The Waterman who had discovered
him related the few details connected |
with the finding of the body. II Law,
he said. stretched full length in the
snow with the arms outstretched |
above the head toward fhe edge of the |
Dluff, and when he showed me the |
'pot II flashed upon me that II was
he Identical one where had seen
him on those other nights. with his
,rms raised in supplication to the
skies.
Left alone in the study. opened /
he safe and Withdrew the contents of |
he drawer in which he had told me ! |
would find my Instructions. He direct
d that / remove his body 10 Virginia
Without embalming. and that he he
aid In an open coffin within tomb
which he previously had had ron
trueted and which. as I,later learned
vas well ventilated. His further in
tructions related to this manuscript
which I was to retain sealed and nm
cad, just as found IL, for eleven
-ears: nor was / 70 divulge rs con-
ents until twenty-one years after his
Ieath.
A strange feature about the tomb,
where his body still lies. is that the
massive door is equipped with a
ingle. huge gold-plated spring lock
which can be opened only from the In.
ide.
Yours very sincerely.
EnrA1 plrE altpprff1nc