New Britain herald., 1929-11-15
CHAINS UNCLE TOM
 :!WAS REAL PERSON -s
Investigator Also Says That Simon Legree Actually Existed

bro~ed, vilainous white man named Sinion Legree had a great deal to do with bringing about the Civil War, despite the fact it was generally be- lieyed they never existed.
 They have always been supposed to have been inventions of Harriet Beesher Stowe. whose book fired the abofiuonists and helped bring about the War between the states.
 Now, however, come witnesses to declare that both Uncle Tom and Sinton Legree were real people.
 Uncle Tom, it is asserted, was genuine slave, known by that name ant owned on plantation in Louis- jana.
 ss Legree a New En2Iander
 Legree, it is said. was a real planter q man whose real name was. Robert McAlpin. the owner of what is now known as Derry Planta- tiop on the Cane river, in Natchi- tocffes parish, now the property of Mrs. Fanny H. C. Cuillot.
 The testimony of these witnesses is presented by Lyle Saxon, former New Orleans newspaperman, in "Old Louisiana," book he has just pub llshed.
 Saxon dug into old records. found old, affdavits and got together q pretty strong case for the theory that Mrs. Stowe simply set down the ac- tuaf facts concerning real people when she wrote the book that set the.nation aflame
 @ "They Are Equal Now'
 He does not come 10 any defi- nite, conclusion himself. After wishing the old plantation, and standing before the grave where McAlpin lies buried, Saxon re- marks:
 Was the man who slept there Brute. like simon Legrec? Or against him? There was no an swer. I turned away and wan dered among the graves of the negroes. Perhaps among them, Rob ert eMcAlpin's body servant, Uncle Tom, is also lying. At any rate they are equal now"
 Presents the Evidence
 His book sets forth all of the evidence and lets the reader make his own decision.
 To begin with, Mrs. Stoves book gave very definite location to ~Simon Lesrees plantation, and described it very closely. Her data fit the old McAlpin plantation eAactly. even to the fact that Me Alplns house originally had two rows of China trees extending in froRt Of it, just as Legree's planta- tion house had.
 McAlpin was a New Englander and so was Legree. Several af- fidaxits and stories collected by Mr!Saxon indicate that McAlpin was known to his neighbors as a heavy thinker, a bachelor and a cruel slave-owner, And he had body servant known as Uncle Tom. I' Visited There in 1S4O
 Mrs Stowe, according to neigh borhood tradition. visited McAl- pinIin 1S4O, Later, it is said she sent copy. of Uncle Toms Cab in'.-to a friend in Alexandria. La. and' wrote in the fly leaf, DO you recognize this?" Some years ago, ac- cording to an elderly Alexandria resident whose testimony Saxon un- earthed, a citizen of the vicinity said. How come that woman up north got the mans name wrong? His name was McAlpin, not Legree ] knew him well. He was the worst man in the whole country"
 
 time of the Civil War everybody in thes neighborhood Of McAlpins plantation took it for ~~"'.' = McAlpin was simon Legree. No onea outside of the parish ,,.. tu..-.,I of it. howevec, until 1882, when Judge D. B. Corlcy Of Abilene. Texas, came to the plantation, found the cabin that was said to have been occupied by c'ln'r's seryant. Uncle Tom. bought it, and took it to Chicago for exhibition at the Worlds Fair.
 Judge Obtained Affidi,its
 Al that time Judge Corcy rakcd thes countryside for affdavits to prote the theory that McAlpin and Lcgree were one and the same per sons and it is the afridavits he col lected then that Saxon quotes in his book.
 Saxon also presents document signed in 1892 by one Lamy Chapin whose father. had bought the planta- ton before the Civil War and who had lived there practically all Of his~life.
 I,amy Chapin said that everyone around him always supposed that the plantation was Simon Legrees and added that he himself had had that belief from his early chiid- hood. When he fell heir to the plaGe. he said he remodelod things extensively, cut down one of the tive rows Of China trees and de stroycd all of the old slave quar- ters with the exception Of Uncle Toms cabin
 A number Of the old a'ndayits are from citizens who remembered Unele Tom, and told Of having heard that McAlpn mistroated inc old negro continually.
 McAIpin Is Defended
 One dissenting Nolc" l- heard. Phanor Brea :cale Of Narrhitochos, noted throughout Louisiana as lawyer, investigated thr matter rather extensively several years ago and declared that McAlpin had bcep badly libcIed: that he had beou, ill reality, kind and gcncr- ous- master and q sober and upright citizen. and that Mrs. Stowe, far from having visited him. had never been in Louisiana at all.
 There Saxon leaves the matter.