Year: 1866

old friend of his) the condition in which
they were, he kindly offered to let him
have several of his men. This offer the
captain gladly accepted, and five robust
sailors were soon on board. s#


The remainder of the voyage was a
pleasant and agreeable one. When the
vessel reached New York, the mutineers
were shortly after tried for their crimes.





AN INTERESTING STORY OF THE WAR.


There is now living in this city family,
the history of which forms something 20
romantic as to constitute most interesting
story. it


In the summer of 1859, Charles Ger
oux became graduate of college in the
Southern part of this State. He was the
descendant of an aristocratic family, who
lived in Louisiana, and, to be brief be
was then a full embodiment of the ''cbiv-
airy" just having entered his majority
While attending college he had formed
the acquaintance of Clara c., who at
tended a college for young ladies in this
city, when acquaintance ripened into at
tachment and love, and, just before the
breaking out of the rebellion, they were
married, land removed South. Miss c.


was an orphan, possessed of considerable
property, which was held in trust by her
uncle, Southern minister, who had rails
ed her from infancy, and personally super
intended her education. In addition to
the endowments Of college education,
she was possessed Of strong character
bordering almost on the masculine, but
tempered with sweetness and mildness
not often combined in the same person
She was at once handsome and womanly.


Within year after their marriage and
settlement in the South came fierce, wild
blast Of war from Sumpter's parapet, and
there was none more ready to enter the
deadly fray that Charles Geroux. His po-
litical tutors were practical secessiorists,
and he entered upon the war with fervor
and zeal to command the admiration of
his friends, and which secured him a ma
jor's commission. His wife opposed his
mad schemes with all the power of wo-
mans eloquence, but to no avail She
openly espoused the cause of the Union,
and steadfastly refused to cooperate with
her new friends and neighbors, Notwith-
standing her love for the old flag, and
open Unionism, her husband loved her,
and while he was at home the neighbors
respected her. b,


Geroux invested all his ready property
which included his wife's fortune, in Con-
federate bonds, placed them in her hands,
gave her kiss for short farewell, assur-
ing her that the war would soon be over,
and, marching at the head of the victo-
rious column of his country's defenders,
she would be proud to welcome him. AT
ter his departure, her treatment by his rel
atives and neighbors became almost intol-
cradle because of her hatred of secession.
a After two years of service in the Con-
federate army, he was captured prisoner
by the victorious Sherman, in his march
to Atlanta, and sent to Camp Douglas.


This was good news to his wife, who
could no longer endure the persecution she
received at the South, and she resolved to
make her way North and join him in bis
prison home, and if she could not secure
his pardon, to at least stay near him. Her
Confederate bonds were worthless, and
she was penniless. She made her way to
the Mississippi river, and took passage on
the Inflated steamer Sultana for the North;
she sold some jewelry for money sufficient
to carry her to Chicago. Arriving at
Memphis, her child was taken very iii, and
by the advice of the captain of the Sulta-
ma, she remained there to secure medical
aid for the child. Within twenty-four
hours thereafter the boiler of the Sultans
exploded, and 1900 lives were lost.


Geroux felt i'll at ease in Camp Douglas,
and made many stratagems to escape
He finally succeeded in bribing raw SEN
tinel to let him pass, and to avoid pursuit
a resort to deception became necessary
A eomrade of his was on the point Of
death. His mess dressed the dead soldier
in the Majors uniform, and conveyed him
to the dead house, and gave his name as
"Maior Charles Geroux, Sd Louisiana Reg
iment, c. S. A" The next morning the
body was taken away and buried, and the
rank, name, regiment and place of burial
were duly recorded in the register of Camp
Douglas dead, by c. A. Jordan, under
tsker for the government.


That night Geroux escaped. His ab-
sense created no inquiry, as he was report
ed dead. For the purpose Of avoiding
public roads and eonyeyances, he took a
horse from pasture near Camp Douglas,
and by avoiding public roads as much as
possible, reached Momence the next day.
His actions excited suspicion, and he was
arrested on suspicion Of having stolen the
horse and was lodged in the kankakee
Jail. He was taken out on writ of ha-
beas corpus, and no proof being found to
hold him, he was discharged.


Coming thence TO this city, he obtained
a situation IN wholesale grocery store.


After an unusual delay in passing letters
through the lines, he learned that his two
brothers had been killed in the battle of
the Wilderness, that his fathers estate had
been confscated to the United States Gov
ernment, and his father had voluntarily
exiled himself to Mexico. Of his wife
and child, the only information was, they
had sought to get North, and took passage
on the Sultana, since which they had not
been heard from, and no doubt remained
but they had perished. His true position
had been studiously concealed, and he
avoided his former acquaintance. Short
ly after he received this intelligence from
the South, Sherman started on his grand
march from Atlanta, and Grant marshalled
his grand army before Petersburgh, and
J the Confederate army vanished almost as