The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-03-08
THEODOSIA
BURR ALsTON
Tragic Story of the Wife Of a
South Carolina Governor

Burr returned TO New York. at the
~ termination of his four years exile
ssfor treason, and one OF his first
F55s acts was to send for his daughter,
b Mrs Theodosia Burr Aston, wife
81 az Governor Aston, of South Car
IS china. relates the Greenville Pied
-. naons. AS the state law prohibited
the governor from leaving South
Carolina during has tenure Of Of
80 fee, 1T was necessary for Mrs.
Aston to make the Journey alone,
save for her physician and maid
ss and she sailed from Charleston on
TO- December 80, 1872, on the pilot
Boat Patriot.
to AS the time drew near for the
es- Patriot TO: arrives at New York,
Col. Burr took up his post on the
battery. eagerly scanning the heri-
ron for the first sight of the little
FUst boat that was bringing his daUgh-
|sfss to him. But day after day pass
E1 se6 without any news Of the ship
and finally she was posted as
missing, IN which category she
remains to this day-one of the
ursoIved mysteries OF the sea- Only
"a short time afterwards Alston, one
Of the youngest governors South
ig Carolina eyer had, died, supposed
OF q broken heart and the
double tragedy added the final CHI
max TO the career of Burr himself.
The loss OF the Patriot" how
sSer was notzone OF the usual rid
dies of the sea, a case Of a vessel
fn
q heardscf again Itewas surrounded
By lumber of circumstances
which were peculiar in the extreme,
bsS. sfartins with the well-defned ru-
o. 7nors that the pilot ship had been
/ boarded by pirates shortly after
b. leaving Charleston and that Mrs.
Aston had been sold into a life Of
slavery Two sailors arrested IN
New York several years after the
E: disappearance ofsthe boat, declared
~ that they had lured a vessel an
ea sWering the, description OF Tie
HPatriot on to. the rocks at Nas's
Head, North Carolina, and chat.
after selling the@eargo, they had
lS1indfolded the passengers and crew
and had forced them to walk the.
Fl plank AT the time this was
IS thought to solve the mystery OF the
vanished ship, but only a few weeks
8. Iatersa sailor Galveston, Texas,
confessed on his death-bsa .i'at he
II. MadAbeen a member OF the crew OF
r. the s.Patriats and told what ap-
bf peared TO be as ecircums.ansirl,y
& correct story off the nlueiny, f;,l-
t1 lowed by the murder of the o:Hcers
ess T6f the Ship and all the passengers.
For; more than half a century
&c. :Ihe riddle. of the pilot boat remain
osssed ea subject OF discussion when-
ever matters of the sea We're ,dls-
IS scusSed, only to be brought once
b. more into the hneIiSa.. Of Bul,lIc
bas@fietice shortly after the civil war
- when DR. w. G.. Pool, OF Eliza
bi1s beth City, n. G., chanccd TO visit
k:sss the cabin of a ,1eor woman at
- Nag,s Head, N. c., where he saw
K: AN toll portrait of q handsome wo-
man on the wall When asked
abuat it, the dying woman declar-'
EIl.sea that it was a relic of a strange
sf ship which had come ashore at
Nag's Head about the time of the
war OF 1912 Her husband she
sad vas one OF crew OF wreck
erS who had boarded the craft,
/ y pkzw ito find that she had been
abandoned and set adrift with all
sails set and her rudder lasfed
against her stern. Nowhere was
the slightest sign of blood or disor-
der save for the fact that some Of
the, baggage had been broken open:
The portrait, she declared, had
been brought ashore by her hus-
hand who had found it in one of
the cabins and it was at once re-
called that Mrs. Theodosia Aston
had taken an oil painting of her.
self with her when she left Char
lesion, intending to give it to her
father as a birthday present. There
was no name on the picture which
Dr. Pool discovered. but it bore a
striking likeness 20 the existing
portraits Of Col Bars daughter.
Still another angle TO the mys-
3. tery appeared only few years
IS ago IN the discovery Of j. A. Eli
| iiett, OF Norfolk, Va, of documents
telling OF a female corpse which
was washed ashore at Cape Charles
early IN 1913. The only identify
ing marks were three valuable
rings which corresponded in de-
sign with those which Mrs. Aston
- wore -,
s. It appears, therefore, that there.
3 are four distinct and different ae-
counts of the final fate OF Mrs.
Alston-the pirate theory, the mu-
tiny and It's accompanying mur-
ders. the mysterious deserted ship
and the body found on the beach
at Cape Charles. If the pirates
had looted tie ship why had they
left valuable silks and laces on
board If the. sailors forced the
passengers to walk the plank, why
did they overlook Mrs. Alston's
rings? Where did the oil portrait
which DR.. Pool found come from,
for the other residents Of Nag's
Head had never heard of the
strange snip from. which it was
supposed to have been taken? Fin
81 aIIpS Iyf,af heca mo of fht. pi1o'