Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1935-05-04
A symbol and Cause &c s...., By cAa. aascsrt

mouth during the late campaign. she
had come home % collapse with what
the doctors had told him was angina
IpectOris, heart disease.
To inf1ict a Rrievous wound like that
Upon a wonanl He heard q sound 81
scuffling IN her room and started to
60 to her. They were moving her 10 9
chair so they could arrange her bed.
And his coming would hurt her. He
was here only because she insisted on
his getting some rest for the banquet
to be given IN his honor IN Nashville
tomorrow night. Always thinking Of
him. Never Of herself. Poor RACHEL
Dearest RACHEL If they had mangled
that gentle soul by their surrlious lies,
If they had killed her, by the eternal
God, he would
Andrew o, Andrewl"
At sound Of her waiting. agonized
cry he was out Of the room and into
hers In a single gliding movement
Rachel was collapsed In a chair In
which they had placed her while they
made her bed Her huge body in its
nightgown, huddled sideways over an
arm, her head with its beautiful, thick
black hair. dangling like a great dolls.
Hannah, the old slave they had bought
and brought with them when they
came to the Hermitage after their sec
ond marriage was trying to straighten
her, while a young Negroes, panic
stricken, moved in circles.
Get the doctor. quickl" he ordered.
and took Rachel's head in his arms.
He clasped her to him for a time
less time, TIN the doctor and Hannah
and two women slaves were in the
room. The doctor ordered her placed
upon table.
Put blankets around her." the gen.
eral ordered, that hard table win hurt
her when she comes TO- And bleed
her, doctor. She is IN a deep swoon.
AS she lay on the hard table with
four blankets under her, the doctor
bled her. No blood followed the probe |
in the temple and the doctor bent
swiftly to lean with his ear against her /
breast. He listened long and straight |
ened slowly. Rachels sightless eyes
were staring at him. He could not look
st the gallant man standing opposite /
him, drawing himself up to meet the /
blow. The doctor looked at old Han
nah instead. And Hannah, tears we'll
ing in her eyes, looked I'D from RacheI's
body to Andrew Jackson.
aAEassa Gennul," she said softly,
Missy Rachel is daid."
Andrew jackson, president-elect Of
the United States, sat in a rocking
chair in his shirt sleeves, holding vigil
over his dead. For so hours he sat
there and the years thudded down upon
him, concentrated in these hours OF
anguish. He looked like a man Of rs,
shrunken, haggard, lined. Inside, he
was as old as grief, older than the
slow, fierce anger against those SLAM
derers he believed had killed her.
Dusk had deepened into night and
into day again. Day rose
at noon and declined to darkness Hei
sat there. Unable TO arouse him, Fan
nah wrapped his frail body In a blanket
and left him. And Andrew jackson
thought Of Rachel Donelson Richards
jackson, the wife Of his bosom, lying
there now unseeing, mhearfng, and J
mcariug, a piece of the earth from !
which she had come Dust to dust
But in her portrait IN the locket
which he had taken from around his :
neck and stared at from time to time :
she was his wife Of 1871, the one who
lad gently wept as she sent him away /,
20 fight the British. And in his heart
The would always be the girl he had
married in 1871. What a calamitous 4
hing that first marriage vast It had !.
finally killed her. Sitting there, en- >
;ased In an icy anger and staring un-
eeing at her body, he saw her again !.
IS she had been when they had begun !,
o live their years together, fun, bitter &
weet years come 10 this tragic end
through the cruelty Of others. 4
Andrew jackson first met Rachel +
)onelson Robards in her mothers I,
hen q young attorney, was boarding :,
n 17S8. They were both n and Rachel, 3
Eho had been married five years to O
Iewts Robards OF Harrods5urg, XVII !,
Jealous husband, had fled home from
Iis Jealousy. Robarcg followed her to .
and shortly after q reconcile A
ton became Jealous Of Andrew. Jack n
on left the boarding house after chal- 4,
.nging Robards to duel and Rachel :,
rent back with her husband TO Ken .
1cky. Two years later, In answer to !,
.acheTs frantic appeals TO her family,
.ndrew went to Kentucky az the fam :,
US ernissary and brought her home =
gain. Richards sued for divorce. accus- :,
lg Rachel and Andrew OF clipping, but :.
he next month. August, 1890, he came =
gain TO Nashville seeking a reconcile = !,
ton This time Rachel fled 10 Match :, :,
E., In flotilla Of settlers and Andrew :,
'ined the flotilla somewhere along the :
ay.
-Four months later, on Dec. 20, II y
avs before Kentucky branched off =
ON Virginia to become q state in her - y
Wn right, Richards petitioned the Vir- -
mia legislature for permission to sue - !.
n