$200 REWARD.
Sometime in October 1825, or about that period, Mr. Benjamin Clarke, a respectable citizen of the Arkansas Territory, lost his CHILD, a boy aged 4 or 5 years, in a mysterious manner; since that time no circumstances have transpired by which the child could be traced until this fall. A letter was mailed at Natchez, on the 2d of October last, signed by one Thomas Tutty, writing, as he stated, under a feigned name, directed to the unfortunate father, and stating that the child should be delivered on the Ouchita [sic] river, upon the payment of $200: $50 to be enclosed to Natchez, directed to the writer, (T. Tutty,) the balance to be paid when the child was delivered. Mr. C. accordingly enclosed a note of $50, in a letter directed to said Tutty, which letter was called for by a person owning the name, and he was immediately arrested. This person states his name to be Edward H. Morris.
The above reward will be paid to any person delivering the child to Henry Tooley, esq. of the city of Natchez, or who will give such detail as may lead to its restoration.
All the papers and evidence relating to this wicked transaction may be seen at the office of H. Tooley, esq. the examining magistrate, who is authorised to receive the child, and pay the reward.
Should the person knowing any thing relative to the child, be willing to answer questions in relation to it, by leaving such directions as may lead to its recovery, the reward will be paid, and no interrogatories asked.
The child has lost a front tooth, broken off by accident.
December 2, 1826.
The Villain detected.
$500 REWARD.
Will be paid, to any person who will restore to the subscriber, residing in Hempstead county, A. T. his little son, about four years of age, who disappeared in a very extraordinary manner, in October, 1825.
Every means have been used by the subscriber, to ascertain the fate of his child, but he has not been able to gain any intelligence of him, not even any that would lead to a probable conclusion whether he had been stolen or drowned, or destroyed in any other manner, until November last, when he received a letter, signed by one Thomas Tutty, and bearing the post-mark of Natchez, Miss. The writer of the letter proposed to restore the child, on the payment of $200—$50 of which to be enclosed to him at Natchez, and the balance to be paid on the delivery of the child. The money was enclosed according to his directions, and thro’ measures concerted with the Post-master at Natchez, the villain, whose real name is ascertained to be Edward H. Morris, was apprehended, and committed to jail. This fellow refused to give any information concerning the child, though the strongest inducements were offered to prevail on him to do so; and he still remains in jail to await the punishment which is due him for his agency in the nefarious and wicked transaction.
The above reward will be paid to any person who will restore the child to the subscriber, or to Henry Tooley, Esq. at Natchez; or for any information concerning him, which shall result in restoring him to the arms of his afflicted and disconsolate parents.
BENJAMIN CLARK.
Hempstead Co. A. T. Dec. 19, 1826.
Some time about the beginning of October, 1825, a son of Mr. Benjamin Clark, (a respectable citizen of Hempstead county,) between 3 and 4 years of age, disappeared in an unaccountable and very mysterious manner, and under circumstances which made it impossible to decide, whether he had been drowned in a small stream in the vicinity, or stolen by some stranger passing through the country. All that could be ascertained in relation to his mysterious disappearance, was from a little negro girl, about his own age, who had strayed off with him from the house of his parents, and who reported, on her return, that he had been carried off by a stranger, on horse-back. This created some uneasiness on the part of the parents, and a search was immediately commenced, which was continued for two or three weeks, during which time the country was examined with the greatest minuteness for a number of miles around, by the whole neighborhood—but no traces of him could be found. Some vestiges of clothing, supposed to have belonged to the child, were shortly afterwards found, in or near a small creek in the neighborhood, but they could not be sufficiently identified to lead to any satisfactory conclusion as to his fate.
The afflicted parents were left in this painful state of suspense—unable to discover whether their child was dead or alive—and had given up almost every hope of ever seeing or hearing of him again—when, early in November last, their hopes were suddenly and unexpectedly revived, by the receipt of a letter, bearing the Natchez post-mark, of 2d Oct. That letter was signed by “Thomas Tutty,” (which the writer stated was not his real name) who offered, for the sum of $200, to restore the lost child to his disconsolate parents, at any place which they should appoint within 15 miles of the Post of Washita—$50 of which to be enclosed in a letter addressed to him at Natchez, and the balance to be paid on the delivery of the child.
This was believed by the parents, to be a mere villainous trick, on the part of the writer, to swindle them out of their money; but they determined at once, to comply with his directions, under the f[a]int hope that some discovery might possibly be made, but to lay their plans in such a manner as to prevent being imposed on.
Accordingly, the anxious mother, eager to embrace her long lost child, and willing to endure any hardship for his restoration to her arms, immediately s[e]t out for the neighborhood of Natchez, where, through the agency of a friend, she deposited a letter, containing a $50 note, in the Post-office in that city, and concerted measures with the Post-master, (who is entitled to much credit for the promptness with which he carried them into effect), for securing any person who might apply for it. In the course of two or three days, the letter was applied for, by a person who said his name was Thomas Tutty—but whose real name was ascertained to be Edward H. Morris, (an Irishman, and a pretended school-master, who passed through this place, in December last, in search of employment, and said he was going to Texas.) This fellow was immediately arrested, and committed to Jail in Natchez. On being interrogated concerning the child, he obstinately refused to give any clue by which it could be found. He, however, said the child was within 15 miles of the city of Natchez, on which a reward of $200 was immediately offered to any person who would restore him to the arms of his almost frantic mother, and a large number of the citizens humanely turned out, and examined every suspected place within that distance, but discovered no traces of him.
The villain, Morris, was left in Jail at Natchez, but will probably be removed to this Territory, for trial.
Mr. Clark now offers a reward of FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS, (which he is abundantly able to pay), to any person who will restore to him his lost child—(see advertisement in another column). All the papers and evidence in relation to this most wicked transaction, are in the hands of Henry Tooley, Esq. (the magistrate before whom Morris was examined), who is authorised to receive the child, and pay the reward.
Printers in the state of Mississippi and Louisiana, will serve the cause of humanity, by giving the above an insertion in their respective papers, and may perhaps be the means of leading to a discovery of the child, and restoring him to the arms of his disconsolate and heart-broken parents.
Sometime in Oct. 1825, or about that period, Mr. Benjamine [sic] Clarke, a respectable citizen of Arkansaws Territory, LOST HIS CHILD, a boy aged 4 or 5 years, in a mysterious manner; since that time no circumstances have transpired by which the child could be traced until this fall. A letter was mailed at Natches, on the 2d of Oct. last, and signed by one Thomas Tutty, writing, as he stated, under a feigned name, directed in the unfortunate father, and stating that the child should be delivered on the Ouachita river, upon the payment of $200: 50 to be enclosed to Natches, directed to the writer, (T. Tutty) the balance to be paid when the child was delivered. Mr. C. accordingly enclosed a note of $50, in a letter directed to said Tutty, which letter was called for by a person owning the name, and he was immediately arrested. This person states his name to be Edward H. Morris.
The wretch who perpetrated the crime—a crime as singular in its nature, as it is novel in its purpose, is now in the jail of this city, expiating by imprisonment, together, with the soreness of his body, the miseries he has caused in the minds and feelings of the parents, who are, it is said, in a most distracted state.
The child stealer, whose name is Edward H. Morris, by some accident, while conveying him to prison a few nights since, escaped, but being immediately pursued was soon overtaken, and after having been well flagellated, pretended to confess where the child was to be found. A number of our citizens, with the most laudable feelings and a spirit justified by circumstances, immediately mounted and rode to that part of the country to which they were directed; but it appears he had entirely deceived them; and he is now in prison, and likely to remain there until the child is found. The stealing of the child, the object in stealing; the conveying it to such a distance from its parents, and all the circumstances connected with the transaction, are of so extraordinary, novel, and inhuman a character as to keep alive the feelings and make active, in the cause of the parents, every description of our citizens.
It would be a good thing if Morris could again make his escape—and again be caught.
In our paper of the 19th Dec. last, we mentioned that a man of this name was in jail at Natchez, who had confessed that he knew where the child was, which was supposed to have been kidnapped from Mr. Benjamin Clark, in Hempstead county in Oct., 1825. As soon as Mr. Clark ascertained that this wretch refused to tell where the child was he went to Natchez, for the purpose of bringing the culprit to this Territory for trial. He was delivered to Mr. Clark, who had him secured in irons; but in ascending the Washita river, Morris attempted to make his escape by jumping overboard, and was drowned before he was got on board again—thus receiving his deserts, without the formality of a trial.
[Transcriber’s note: The first very long phrase in the first sentence is, indeed, missing a verb.]
We understand that Robert [sic] H. Morris, alias Thomas Tutty, who had been confined in jail to this place, under a charge for Kidnapping the child of Mr. Benjamin Clark, but was lately taken from jail by Mr. Clark, who intended to carry him to Hampstead [sic] County, Arkansas Territory; he stopped on Friday the 9th inst. at the house of Alfred Grayson, Esq., on the Washitaw River, at early candle light Mr. Morris requested permission to read a chapter in the Bible, when he had done so, he arose from his chair and observed that his handkerchief was lying on the table across the room, the company unconscious of his object, permitted him to walk to the table, where he suddenly seized a loaded pistol which lay there, and snapped it twice at Mr. Clark, and on Mr. Clark’s advancing on him with a chair, he turned the pistol on himself but it again missed fire. He was then knocked down,—some objections being made to his staying in the house during the night on account of his holding in one hand the Bible, and in the other a pistol, and apparent diabolical disposition; he was taken into the yard, when he again attempted to put an end to his own existence by running a large splinter down his throat, the splinter was drawn out bloody; he then expressed a determination to destroy himself, and walked into the river and was drowned. We have understood that he showed a gentleman in Natchez, a Razor concealed in his sock, which he stated was to take his own life in open Court if the trial had commenced on the charge he was committed under.
Public feeling in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas, has been prodigiously excited, during the past winter, by a mysterious and inexplicable catastrophe, which has excited in us a more harrowing interest, than any tale of fictitious distress. The following circumstances were gleaned from the journals, the accounts of different persons, who conversed with the parties, and are corrected from a long conversation with the sheriff at Natchez, who was obliged by his official duties to see much of the father and mother of the lost child, and to attend the trial of the person, arrested on suspicion of being concerned in stealing the child, and under whose care and inspection he fell, while in prison. That gentleman was obliging enough to communicate to the writer many details of great interest, which are necessarily precluded in the brevity of this narration.
Something more than a year ago, the only child of a Mr. Clark, of Hempsted [sic] county, territory of Arkansas, a fine boy of four years, disappeared from the scene of his morning play, near the house of his parents, and could no where be found. A little negro boy had been playing with him, and related, that two men on horseback came upon them, and that one of them alighted, took up the child, and carried him off. The parents were sober, respectable, and comparatively affluent. It is a country of dark forests, and immense prairies; and wolves, bears, and panthers, are common in the woods, and different tribes of Indians hunt in the vicinity. The affection of these parents for their only child was
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such, as would be naturally expected, and no effort of the imagination is necessary to conceive the anxiety and agony of their suspense. The honest hearted people about them, though not given to eloquent descriptions of their feelings in such cases, expressed a more unquestionable sympathy by turning out, en masse, and scouring the forests, prairies, and bayous, in every direction. The agonizing father followed a man, who preceded him a day or two, as was reported, carrying a child with him on horseback. After a pursuit of three hundred miles, he ascertained, in the bitterness of disappointment, that the child was not his. Every exertion, made to find the child, was to no purpose. The father rode in different directions thousands of miles. Advertisements, promises of ample reward, the sustained search of hundreds of people, were alike unavailing, to furnish a vestige of the child, or the slightest clue to stimulate to hope, and further exertion. After a search of months, the feelings of the parents, from the natural effect of time and disappointment, settled down to the calm of resignation and despair, and they mourned for their child, as dead. It will be easy to conceive, that it was not the tranquil mourning of parents, who have seen their child in its sinless innocence buried under the clods of the valley. The agony of suspense, the feverish efforts of imagination, excited to activity, by the indescribable tenderness of parental affection, and still fashioning new and more horrible catastrophies, especially at particular periods of the day, or the evening—from this they could only be delivered, by finding their child, or becoming acquainted with his doom. They had not even the sad satisfaction of the patriarch, finding the bloody clothes of their lost child, by which, suspense might be terminated in the conviction, that an ‘evil beast had devoured him.’
Some time last winter, the father received a letter, mailed at the Natchez post office, informing him, that if the would enclose fifty dollars in a letter to the writer, and would send the mother of the child, unaccompanied by any other person, to a certain house in Arkansas, which he designated, with two hundred dollars more, the writer engaged, that a certain woman in the designated house should deliver up the child to its mother. This letter was written in a gentlemanly hand, and signed ‘Thomas Tutty.’
The plan of the distracted parents was settled by advice of many respectable people in Louisiana, who entered warmly into their feelings. A letter stating all the circumstances of the case, was written to the post master at Natchez. Another, agreeable to all the requirements of Tutty, and enclosing a bank note of fifty dollars, was addressed to him. In the letter to the post master, he was directed to watch for the man, who should call for the other letter, and have him apprehended. At the proper time, a man of gentlemanly appearance and manners, with the dialect of an Irishman, enquired for the letter. The post master by design made difficulty
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and delay in making change, and detained the man, until an officer was procured, and he was then apprehended. He was found to be a man, who had kept a school for some time in the vicinity of Natchez, whose singular and cautious habits had already excited suspicion. He proved himself shrewd, sulky, and pertinaciously obstinate in his purpose, to confess nothing, and to throw the whole burden of proof on the magistrate, before whom he was tried. He would not admit the identity of the hand writing of the letter with his own, and he denied, that his name was Thomas Tutty. He was charged with having fabricated the story, that he knew where the child was, and would cause it to be delivered to its parents, merely with the base purpose of extorting money from the affection of the parents. He continued to affirm, that he knew where the child was, and proved, that he was acquainted with the long way between Natchez and the residence of Mr. Clark, by answering with the utmost promptness and intelligence, questions about the numerous bayous, swamps, and passes, in the distance, put with a particularity, intended purposely to perplex him. On the suspicious fact of his having enquired for the letter, directed to Thomas Tutty, he was committed to prison. The parents, who repaired to Natchez, and various people, who took a deep interest in this strange, and terrible affair, exhausted their ingenuity to no purpose in efforts, to get something out of the prisoner, that might furnish a clue, by which to find the child. He told the father, that in a certain place, where it was supposed he would pass in search of the child, he would find the clothes, which the child wore when it disappeared, and bones having the appearance of those of a child of his years, that had been devoured by beasts. But he assured him, that the bones were not those of his child, but of an animal, placed there to produce that impression. Such an investigation was found to be the fact. Yet strange to tell, nothing could extort from the man the slightest information, that had any other tendency, than still more to excite the imagination, and harrow up the feelings of the parents.
Meanwhile a number of the respectable people of Natchez, stimulated by their intense interest, the warm blood of the south, and their impatient fondness for summary justice, and thinking probably that a little ‘hiding’ could do the Irishman no possible harm, and might operate upon his imperturbable closeness the benefit of a course of gymnastics, took him by night from the prison, and gave him a pretty severe drubbing, intimating between the intervals of discipline, that whenever he found the application transcending the bounds of health and pleasant feeling, any useful information, touching the child, would save them the trouble of carrying the operation any farther. The Irishman shrugged, and seemed for a long time disposed to persevere in his customary closeness, and receive all the benefits of the prescription. But at a point, where
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the thing was becoming evidently very unpleasant, he seemed to relent, and said, that if they would send to a certain house between forty and fifty miles from Natchez, in Mississippi, the people there would tell them, where they might find the child. The sheriff, who stated, that he had disapproved of these proceedings, and was, moreover, ill at the time, was no sooner apprized of htis information, than he started at midnight for the designated house. When he arrived there, he found that the people were of good character, and perceived in a moment, that he was on a false scent, and that the prisoner had given this information only to get rid of correction.
The parents and the people, having exhausted every effort upon the pertinacious silence, and unshrinking obstinacy of the prisoner to no purpose, became fully impressed, that he had, indeed, been concerned in the stealing of the child, but that he no longer knew any thing about its present condition, and had been induced to what he had done, merely to obtain money, by trifling with parental anxiety and affection. They consented to the enlargement of the prisoner on a nolle prossequi, on condition, that he should return with the parents, in the hope, that threats, or promised rewards, or a returning sense of justice and humanity, when he should arrive where the clothes of the child were laid, might yet induce him, to put them on a clue to finding him.
He was accordingly enlarged, and crossed the Mississippi in the same ferry boat with the parents, on their route towards home. It had been purposely intimated to him, that unless he would frankly communicate to Mr. Clark on the journey, all that he knew about the child, as soon, as they should have travelled beyond the settlements, he would be put to death. Having advanced beyond the settlement of Concordia, he asked Mr. Clark, how long he intended to allow him to live? The reply was, if he persisted in withholding information about the child, perhaps thirty six hours. Mr. Clark carried a pistol in his belt. The Irishman rushed upon him, seized the pistol, and snapped it at his breast. Although he had primed and loaded it himself, it fortunately missed fire. Failing in his purposes, the Irishman broke away and made for a bayou, to which they were approaching. He plunged in, disappeared, and was drowned, and thus extinguished the only visible hope of a clue to unravel this mysterious and tragical affair. This crime of fiends, child stealing, has been often threatened in that region, which furnishes such facilities for perpetrating it, as a mean [sic] of diabolical revenge. An indescribable interest yet exists there in regard to the elucidation of this mystery. Parents, watch your children. Be careful of the presence of suspicious villains, who might in this way sting you to death. The happiest feeling, which a good mother can have on the earth, is, when she sees her children safely and sweetly sleeping in their own beds, under the united protection of innocence and parents, good angels and God.
It will be recollected by the public that in the Ariel of the 8th of December, 1826, we gave an account of a child, stolen from its parents, living in the territory of Arkansas. The circumstance created great excitement among our citizens, and their feelings were strongly interested in behalf of the suffering parents, who came to Natchez in hopes to find the wretch who had committed the foul deed, and with him their lost child.—The circumstances we presume are still fresh on the memories of all, and we therefore do not think it necessary to repeat them. It is sufficient to our purpose at present, to say that the child after so long a time, has been found, the time and manner, the public will learn from the following letter addressed to Dr. Henry Tooley, by Mr. R. C. Langdon, dated Alexandria.
(La.) April 3d, 1828.
“I have one piece of intelligence which will rejoice you much, and which induces me now to write to you. The long lost child of Mr. Clark’s, is at last found. A gentleman, intimately acquainted with Mr. Clark’s family, heard that a child answering the age and description of the one lost by Mr. C. was in this place, went to see it, and is positive as to its identity; he has taken, clothed it, and will carry it home to its parents. Since last Saturday, (29th March,) the day on which the discovery was made, two gentlemen formerly boarders at Mr. Clark’s house, have seen it; and before they saw it, described it fully—there were marks on the head, made by lancing a boil, and which (upon examination) were found to be correct. Colonel Oden, Mr. Moss, and Mr. Peyton are the gentlemen making this discovery. It se[e]ms that this child was left on the bank of the river at Alexandria, and abandoned by its supposed father, named Morgan, about 15 or 20 months ago.”
Note by Dr. Tooley.
—The letter written by Thomas Tutty to Mr. Clark, informing him that his child was alive, and would be delivered to him on the payment of $200—50 of which were to be advanced, was dated, “2d October 1826,” Post marked “Natchez, October.” Said Thomas Tutty alias Edward H. Morris was apprehended for kidnapping said child at the Post Office, Natchez, on 25th November 1826, examined and imprisoned. On 2d December, he was again examined in the presence of Huldah Clark, the mother of the lost child, who recognized Mr. Tutty or Morris as being in the neighborhood at the time the child disappeared, and who went off about the same time. About the time of this last examination, a man was seen in the vicinity of Natchez with a child answering the description of the one lost, but who upon Tutty’s arrest, suddenly disappeared, carrying off the child. Tutty on a subsequent occasion, confessed to the examining magistrate that on the day of his arrest the child was in the vicinity, and that he was to have gotten it, and delivered it to the parents, all of which would have been done, had he not have been arrested.
Upon the whole there is strong reason to believe that the child was in the vicinity of Natchez at the arrest of Tutty, and that the man having it, made his escape, and from motives of dread and alarm, put it on shore, and abandoned it at Alexandria.—Morgan was said to be the man’s name at Natchez,—Morgan was the name of him who abandoned the child at Alexandria.—From the disappearance of Morgan at Natchez, to the finding of the child at Alexandria, there was a space of sixteen months, coinciding with the account given by the person who found it.
H. T.
It will be recollected by many, that some time in October, 1825, an infant son of Benjamin Clark, Esq. of Hempstead county, Arkansas, aged about four years, was missing in a mysterious manner—it was conjectured, however, that he had been kidnaped by some unknown persons.—This strange occurrence excited a deep interest among the friends and acquaintance of Mr. C. who turned out en masse, and scoured the country for hundreds of miles, in all directions; this search continued for several weeks, but every effort proved unsuccessful: No trace or clue, to unravel this dark mystery, was discovered until some time in the month of November, 1826. At this time, a man by the name of Edward H. Morris was apprehended at Natchez, under the following circumstances: On the 2nd of October previous, a letter was mailed at Natchez, directed to the unhappy father of the child, in which the writer stated that he knew all about the transaction, and where the child then was—and if Mr. C. would enclose $50 in a letter, directed to “Thomas Tutty, Natchez,” (the name he stated that he had assumed for the purpose) he would deliver the child to a woman only, at a certain place on the Ouachita river, which should be afterwards designated—at which place Mr. C. should remit him, by the hands of the person receiving the child, the farther sum of 150 dollars, and take no steps to discover who was concerned in this business, for if he did the life of the child would be in danger. Mr. Clark immediately wrote to Natchez agreeably to the directions.
Mrs. C., with the anxiety so natural to a mother, and alive only to her maternal feelings, could not be restrained from instantly repairing to Natchez, cherishing the fond hope of once more embracing her long lost son. On her arrival at Catahoula, Maj. R’d. King, and some other friends, persuaded her to delay her journey a few days, until the post master at Natchez could be apprized of the facts, that the villain might be detected. Maj. King immediately wrote, and requested the post master, that should a man call for a certain letter directed to Thomas Tutty, (the same which had been sent by Mr. C. and which was minutely described,) he should be apprehended and detained in custody until something of this affair could be unfolded. In due time, this identical letter was claimed by a man, who said that the letter was intended for him. Mr. Lyle, the assistant post master, with his characteristic promptness and decision, secured the applicant and conducted him before Justice Tooley.—In his examination, he evinced a turpitude of conduct rarely equalled—he said that his name was Edward H. Morris, and a native of Ireland. [sic] His statements were so contradictory and various, that it was evident to every spectator, that he was the principal in this nefarious affair. He was accordingly committed for farther trial.—During the scene, and afterwards, he maintained an inflexible silence as to the fate of the child. Meantime Mrs. C. arrived at Natchez. She appealed with all the eloquence of maternal solicitude, to the feelings of the obstinate monster, but in vain.—Prayers, entreaties, promises of reward and immediate liberty were then resorted to, with little success.—Tortures, were inflicted to no purpose—and the disappointed mother returned to her home, now rendered gloomy and comfortless by the loss of her child in this distressing manner.—Had he been torn from her bosom by death, her pious heart would have submitted without a murmur to the will of providence.
On her return, Mr. Clark went to Natchez, with a view of taking this man back to Hempstead county, and endeavoring, by some means or other, to recover his lost son. He was accordingly delivered to Mr. Clark, and taken as far as the Ouachita river, without accident. On the 9th Feb. 1827, they stopped at the house of A. Graywon, Esq. to pass the night.—Morrison asked and obtained permission to read the bible; he then observed that his pocket handkerchief was on a table across the room, and was suffered to get it himself. perceiving Mr. Clark’s pistols near by, he seized them and attempted to shoot Mr. C.—but the pistol missing fire, he made an effort to kill himself, and actually ran a splinter down his throat, which was immediately extracted.—He then made for the river, plunged into it and was drowned. Thus were extinguished, for a time, the hopes of the bereaved parents.
Some time in the spring of 1826, an abject and miserable looking man, with two small children, a boy and girl, was discovered on the bank of the river, in front of the town of Alexandria, where he remained for some days. From whence he came and his object in staying, were equally unknown; and he went away in as silent a manner as he had introduced himself; leaving behind him the little boy who was the youngest of the two. He was found on the bank of the river, and placed in a family where he met with ill treatment; but the humanity of the citizens caused him to be removed to a place where he has since been used with kindness.
Soon after the little boy was found, Dr. Stewart, of this place, was called on to examine a sore on the back of its head, which from its character appeared to be of considerable duration. In the course of his attendance, or afterwards, it occurred to him, from the singular manner he was left here, and from other connecting circumstances, that this must be the lost child of Mr. Clark. He accordingly wrote a letter on the subject, but subsequently concluded not to send it, as in the interim he had ascertained that the man who left the child, had taken up his residence at the mouth of Red river, and as report said, died in that neighborhood. This delay of communication was made for the whole purpose of obtaining all the information practicable, not wishing to rekindle the keen and inexpressible pangs of parental affection, the sweet but expiring hopes, so long cherished by the fond parents, for the restoration of a lovely child, snatched from them by an unprincipled monster.
Things remained in this situation, until within a few days since, when the circumstances were related to Col. R. C. Oden, who had resided in Mr. Clark’s family. He immediately repaired to see the little fellow, and to his inexpressible joy recognised in him the lost child of his friend. Since that time, Maj. Matthew Moss and Mr. W. R. Peyton, both well acquainted with the family of Mr. C. have also identified him. Before seeing him, Maj. Moss described some scars on the back part of the head, which were found without difficulty—so that no doubt now remains on the subject.
Col. Oden has extended ever[y] mark of friendship to the little stranger.—He left this place on Tuesday last, on board of the Steam-boat Beaver, to restore him to the bosom of his parents.
[We learn, by Capt. Wilkinson, who recently passed up in the Facility, that the above child was placed under his charge, in New-Orleans, for the purpose of bringing him up to this place, and sending him from hence to his bereaved parents, in Hempstead county. But, while detained there, Mr. Clark accidentally arrived in the city, and had the inexpressible satisfaction of having his long lost child restored to his arms. The feelings of the father, on meeting with the child, can be easier imagined, than pourtrayed [sic] with the pen. Though he saw a strong resemblance in the child, still, the lapse of time and the ill usage which it had received during its absence, had made such an alteration in its appearance that it was some time before Mr. Clark could become perfectly satisfied that it was the one which he had lost more than two years before. However, a remarkable scar on the back part of his head, and the striking family resemblance which he bore, which was apparent to all who saw him removed all doubt in the mind of the father as to the identity of his child. Mr. Clark then took the little boy to his lodgings, and a few days afterwards, set out on his return home, to restore him to the arms of his anxious mother.]—Editor Ark. Gaz.
The Lost Child. The interesting story of the “Lost Child,” which, a few years ago, excited such lively and general interest in the Western States, has been moulded by the Rev. T. Flint, editor of the Western Monthly Review, into a volume of nearly 200 pages, which is now in the press of Messrs Putnam & Hunt of Boston.
The Lost Child—by the Rev. Timothy Flint.—This book is now in the press of Messrs. Carter and Hendee, and will in a few days be read for sale. Upon turning over its leaves we perfectly remember the circumstances upon which this story is founded. They are of the most interesting nature, and derive much grace from the pure style in which they are related. The Reverend author has strictly adhered to a representation of facts as they occurred, admitting no other embellishment than his own occasional moral reflections on the subject. It is an excellent work, and will be read with equal interest both by parents and children. The story is briefly this.
It may be remembered that about two or three years ago, considerable excitement was produced throughout the country by the publication of an advertisement which went the rounds in the newspapers, offering a high reward for the recovery of a child which had been stolen from its parents. They were residents of Mount Prairie, Arkansas Territory. It was ascertained that the perpetrator of this deed of darkness, was a villain who had for a long time expressed his enmity towards Mr. Howe and his family, on account of their religious principles, and their unwillingness to join in the circle of dissipation which he frequented. Although many persons voluntarily went forth in various directions, and every other effort was made in order to apprehend the wretch who had thus despoiled an amiable family of their ‘first hope,’ no information of any kind could be obtained respecting either him or the child till nearly a year had elapsed since its loss. At this period, says the narrator, a neighbour came in one morning, and told them that he thought that he could give them at last some information touching the fate of their lost son. From his countenance as he said this, they could gather nothing with regard to the nature of the news. He seemed to have an air of mystery, and would say nothing in the presence of the family; but informed the father that if he would accompany him to a certain place, he thought he could set his mind at rest as to the fate of his child. The father and mother instantly inferred that the man supposed that the child was dead, although he had not said so. How strangely blinded we are to what passes in our own minds! The mother had often thought and said she should be glad, if she was sure her dear Henry had escaped from the hands of cruel men, and was safe in the presence of God in a better world! But when she first felt that these wishes had indeed been granted, and her poor Henry was actually dead! the grief of the mother arose within her, and she fainted. As soon as she recovered, her husband mounted his horse and accompanied his neighbour. He led him in silence along the road where the child had last been seen, until they were about a mile from the point where he had been seen by Cæsar, (the servant to whose care the child had been confided.) He then turned off into a deep ravine, covered on every side by thick vines and brier bushes. A spring ran along the bottom of it. It was a dark, dreary, out of the way place, surrounded by thick woods, and seemed the very spot which bad men would have chosen to perpetrate a deed of horror. Here the man stopped, the father followed him in anxious silence. At a little distance
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from the source of the spring, beside a log, were bones, such as the imperfect knowledge which Mr. Howe had of structure, and the anatomy of the human body, might lead him to suppose, were those of a child. They laid a little disordered, as though some beast had carelessly walked over them; but there were apparently all the chief bones of the little body. There wqs the scull, [sic] and to make the evidence more complete, some locks of fair hair which resembled those of Henry, were scattered around. The Neighbour said but lit[t]le, and but little was necessary to bring home conviction to the heart of this unfortunate parent, that here, his dear child had perished; and this waas all that remained of him! It is useless to attempt to describe his feelings. The bones were carefully removed to his house, and a good Methodist minister prayed, sung a funeral hymn, and preached a sermon. The remains were then interred as those of Henry Howe. There were few dry eyes at this funeral meeting, as the minister in the simple pathos of truth, spoke of the pathetic circumstances of the case. The mother saw the bones buried beneath the soil, but she retained the fair locks, one of which she placed next her bosom, while her eye was often seen to fill with unbidden tears, and often at the close of day would she stray alone to the spot where she deemed all that was mortal of her child was at rest[.]
Notwithstanding this almost convincing proof of the child’s death, still, the mother seems to have entertained a presentiment that she should yet see him again, and so strongly was she impressed with this idea, that she could not resolve to give him up, although she continued to weep over the stone which bore his name. About one year after this event had transpired, a letter was received through the Natchez Post Office, directed to Mr. Howe, who was at that time from home. His wife in whose mind the memory of her lost darling was ever vivid, with a vague hope, which she could hardly define, broke the seal and read the following. “If Mr. Howe will enclose fifty dollars in a letter to the writer at Natchez, and send the mother of the lost child, unaccompanied by any other person, to a certain house in Arkansas, (which was clearly pointed out) with two hundred dollars more, she shall receive her child at the hands of a woman to whom she must pay the two hundred dollars. It was written handsomely, and signed Thomas Tutty.”
The impatience of the mother to recover her lost son, urged her notwithstanding the absence of her husband, to venture upon this journey, and unwilling to leave her two young children behind, she took them with her, attended only by her faithful servant Caesar, who was almost as anxious as the mother respecting the child which had been placed uner his care. An interesting detail of their journey ensues. At length she arrives at Munroe, and applies for advice to a friend of her husband’s in that place, who invites her to remain at his house till her husband arrives whom she had directed to follow her. In the mean time her friend proposed writing to the post master of Natchez, requesting him to detain, or otherwise keep an eye on the man who should inquire for a letter directed to Thomas Tutty.
Mr. Howe soon joined his wife at the house of his friend, and they set off together for Natchez, leaving their children under safe protection.—
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They repaired immediately to the Post Office, and found that he had detained in custory the man who had enquired for the above mentioned letter. They were conducted to him, and the result was, he was tried before a magistrate upon the information that had been furnished by Mr. Howe’s friend. The artful villain, though he intimated that he knew where the child was, defied them to prove that he was the author of the letter in question, and although it was obvious to all that he was concerned in this cruel affair, still, no legal proof could be brought against him. But so strongly were his judges convinced of his guilt, that accordingly on this account, they had ventured to exercise even more severity towards him than the law would sanction, by imprisoning, and publicly chastising him, in order to extort a confession of his knowledge of the affair; ielding at length to these measures, he consented to accompany Mr. Howe in pursuit of his child. Previous to their commencing the journey, it was intimated to the man that unless he did produce the child before he parted company with Mr. Howe, his life would pay the forfeit. After having travelled at his own suggestion through a long and dreary road on the west bank of the Mississippi, through deep forests and swampy ravines, he suddenly turned to Mr. Howe who he observed was armed with pistols, and asked “how long he had to live?” his reply was “not more than thirty-six hours, unless during that time you reveal where the child may be found.” On receiving this answer, the hardened wretch rushed upon Mr. Howe, seized one of the pistols and pointed it at his breast; fortunately, it missed fire! [D]isappointed thus in his aim against the life of this unfortunate parent, he sprang hastily from the carriage, and plunged down a precipice into the river with the intention probably of swimming across, but was drowned!
The only hope of unravelling this mystery now vanished, and the disconsolate parent returned home to communicate to his wife the sorrowful result of his journey. Passing over some events to the conclusion of the story, we find that about two years after this, unsuccessful attempt to discover whether the child was or was not still living, another source of hope was opened to their view. Col. O—, an intimate friend of the family, while on his travels in Louisiana, heard an affecting case spoken of which was brought before the court then in session, against the wife of a jailor, for ill-treating a young boy who was under her charge. In the course of the trial, curiosity led him to the court house, and notwithstanding the ragged, squallid, [sic] and sickly appearance of the child, who was scarcely taller than he was at the ge when he knew him—Col. O— instantly recognized the ‘lost child’ of his friend! his identity was confirmed by some peculiar marks upon his person, as also by the partial remembrance of home, more than a child of four years old might be expected to retain, after an absence of four years, past [sic] among barbarians, in sorrow and suffering.
The scene of his restoration to his affectionate parents is well described, and the story taken together as related by the author, is at once affecting and highly interesting. We hope that this hasty sketch which we have made of the work will not deter any one from reading it; we hesitate not to say that it will amply repay the task of a deliberate perusal.
The Lost Child. By the Rev. Timothy Flint. Boston, Putnam & Hunt, and Carter & Hendee. 18 vo. 1830—pp. 121. The author of this book we consider one of our most popular writers. He possesses in an eminent degree the power of conveying his own impressions to the minds of others—of making his sentiments felt. From his graphic descriptions of Western scenery the reader almost fancies he has a personal knowledge of that magnificent portion of our country—the Valley of the Mississippi. Nor are his characteristic sketches of the western people less interesting. In one particular he certainly deserves their high respect. He has done more than any other writer to correct the impression which had gone abroad, chiefly from the statements of British Tourists, and the sneers of British Journalists, that the hardy pioneers of our Western country were a barbarous, blood-thirsty race, almost destitute of the form and feelings of humanity. Mr. Flint constantly reminds us, even when showing up a real “residenter,” that the virtues of the heart, generosi-
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ty, gratitude, frank hospitality are cherished—and that the spirit of improvement in all the arts and virtues which make the charm of civilized society is pervading, and purifying, and rapidly elevating the moral and mental character of our western citizens. Perhaps these descriptions may borrow somewhat of their tone from the writer’s own mind. Mr. Flint is truly a benevolent man—his prayers and his labors are for the improvement and happiness of his fellow men. Such a mind cannot fail to believe that Americans will strive to fulfil the glorious destiny assigned them—and show to the world the beneficial effects of religious liberty, and republican institutions. If every one would act their part with the energy, and rectitude of Mr. Flint, there would be little to fear for our country. In the small book now before us, which was written for children, there is the same spirit discerned which has marked all his writings—that of imparting something which shall make his countrymen better and wiser. The story is true, and we recommend it to our New England children and youth in particular, as a tale which will teach them a serious lesson in a manner that cannot fail to interest and please them.
[Transcriber’s note: Sections in square brackets appear that way in the original; the first square bracket on page 16 is not closed in the original; I haven’t attempted to close it.]
1. Edward H. Morris, alias Thomas Tutty.
In the beginning of the autumn of 1826, there appeared in Hempstead County, Arkansas Territory, Edward H. Morris, otherwise called Thomas Tutty, as best suited his convenience, accompanied by a woman said to be his wife; and about the same time a man whose name was John M’Felon Graham, who, as it afterwards appeared, was an accomplice of the person first named. Of the woman and M’Felon the writer had no personal knowledge; but from facts afterwards developed, the woman was “no better than she should be,” and M’Felon all that his name imports.
Edward H. Morris was a likely man, of middle age and size, well educated, and wrote an elegant hand. He was an Irishman by birth, and one of the very many patriots “who leave their country for their country’s good,” but who carry no good to the country into which they obtrude themselves,—masses of corrup-
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tion, infectious substance, that oppressed and afflicted Ireland, deserving a better fate, vomits into other lands, carrying with them confusion, pestilence, and misrule.
Edward H. Morris had a mind of no common mould, well capable, under proper discipline, of shining as a light of no ordinary magnitude. But Edward H. Morris was an unrepentant sinner, and yielded himself a willing slave to the god of this world, and consequently became “earthly, sensual, and devilish.” This man was, or pretended to be, a schoolmaster, and went from house to house inquiring for a school, but took no proper means to get one. By so doing he became acquainted with the characters and circumstances of the farmers of that neighborhood. To get money was his object, let the means be what they might. Under the ordinary means used by such persons, he could get “no lift,” the industrious and thrifty farmers of that vicinity were not disposed to part with their money to a stranger. Like the god whom he served, he would not be easily foiled, and concocted a cunningly devised scheme to get money, which involved a vast amount of suffering and expense, but which signally failed.
2. Domestic Happiness put in Peril.
Benjamin Clark was an industrious and thrifty farmer. This good man had a wife named Huldah, who, like the prophetess of that name, feared God, and was, in every needful sense, such a wife as divine goodness alone can give, and grace qualify for the high destiny of domestic Christian life.
To the many blessings of this world, the Good One added sons and daughters;—loved by the father as offspring near and dear;—by the mother, as part of her own existence. Thomas Eskridge was the youngest son, then about three years old, a promising boy, and his mother’s darling. The happiness of the parents seemed full—their cup was running over. So lived this family in the enjoyment of the blessings of the heavens and the earth; but unalloyed happiness is not in this world; the destroyer came; a trial, heart-rending was at land; in affliction’s furnace the hearts of the parents had to be purified from the dross of this world’s love, and like the heart of the ancient patriarch, fixed on God alone.
3. The Child Thomas is stolen.
It was the custom of little Tommy to stroll about the enclosure of the homestead with a black, of about his own age. They would
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occasionally stray farther than might seem prudent, but no one had any apprehension of danger.
The evening of the 11th day of October, 1826, was clear, the air was balmy, and all nature seemed to rejoice at the gathering in of harvest[.] On this evening Tommy and his black friend strayed farther than usual. At dusk these little fellows were in the woods, playing and gamboling on their return home. Suddenly a man on horseback with his face muffled, rode up, stooped down from his horse, seized little Tommy and galloped off. The black boy ran to the house, gave the alarm so far as he could, but no one heeded it. At dark, little Tommy not returning home, the parents were alarmed, and more closely questioned the black boy, who in his simple way told them that a big man on a horse had carried Tommy away. The plantation was roused; the alarm spread; the neighbors ran together; lights were procured, and diligent search made, but no trace of the boy could be found. So passed away the night. In the morning an experienced backwoodsman got upon the trail of the horse, and followed it to a creek, where the child’s clothes were found. The backwoodsman crossed the creek accompanied by others, got upon the trail of the horse, and that of a man on foot. They kept on a general east course, through unfrequented woods and places for more than thirty miles, until the trail ended on the west bank of the Mississippi river. Here there were signs of a canoe having been shoved off, and one man only having done it. Here also the hose had taken a back track, and was finally lost. That a man, with the child had cross the river into Jefferson county, Mississippi, was the undivided opinion of all present. Having no means of crossing the river, the party returned home weary and dispirited.
While the hunters were out looking for the child the parents had hope, when the party returned and gave an account of what they had seen, and what was their opinion, the hearts of the parents sank within them, and to attempt a description of their agony would be a vain undertaking.
[It afterwards appeared that the man M’Felon had crossed the river in the canoe mentioned, carrying the child with him into Jefferson county, Mississippi, and lurked about from place to place until the arrest of Thomas Tully at Natchez.]
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4. A reward offered, and a letter received.
Search was made day after day, week after week, after the return of the party from the Mississippi river, but no further trace or sign could be found. A reward of two hundred dollars was offered for the recovery of the child, or for any certain information about him, dead or alive. From and after the day on which the child was missed, Edward H. Morris, his supposed wife, and their friend M’Felon were no more seen in that neighborhood, which circumstance caused the neighbors irresistably [sic] to believe that they had stolen and carried off the child. Unremitting inquiry continued to be made to no purpose, when early in November, the following letter directed to Benjamin Clark, Hempstead county, Arkansas Territory, was received:
“Natchez, Oct. — —.
Mr. Benjamin Clark,
The child you have lost I have found. He is safe and well, and in my possesion. [sic] If you will enclose $50 in a letter directed to “Thomas Tutty, Post Office, Natchez,” you will receive further information about your son, and in your letter appoint a place where you will receive him, and upon the payment of a further sum of $150, the amount of the reward offered, the child shall be delivered to you.
THOMAS TUTTY.”
Upon receiving said letter Benjamin Clark wrote the following reply:
“Hempstead Co., A. T., 6th November, 1826.
Mr. Thomas Tutty,
I exceedingly rejoice on receiving your letter, written at Natchez dated Oct. —, giving me information about my lost son Tommy. I enclose $50, and appoint an unfrequented place about two miles from Vidalia to receive the child, when the balance of $150 will be paid.
BENJAMIN CLARK.
This letter was mailed at Hempstead Court House and directed to “Thomas Tutty, Natchez.”
Upon consultation of the parents with their friends, it was thought best for Huldah Clark, the mother, to take with her two friends, and stop at some place near Natchez, and await the issue of the letter. Upon her arrival at Vidalia, she communicated to the writer of this narrative, then acting magistrate in Natchez, all the circumstances concerning the loss of her son, as detailed
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above, requesting his advice and assistance. Having no confidence in the truth or honesty of Thomas Tutty, the magistrate gave written instructions to John T. Griffith, Esq., the postmaster in Natchez, to arrest any man who should call for the letter containing the $50 aforesaid. The magistrate also gave orders to Alexander Bingham, a constable, to be in attendance to assist the postmaster in such arrest.
On the 24th of November at about meridian, a man called for the letter, and upon being questioned by Josiah A. Lyle, the deputy post master, whether he was the identical Thomas Tutty to whom the letter was directed, answered that “he was Thomas Tutty, and that the letter contained $50.” Whereupon, the postmaster, assisted by the constable, arrested the man, and brought him before the writer of this narrative, to be dealt with according to law for the stealing and abduction of the child aforesaid, and was by the magistrate committed to prison for examination thereafter. The magistrate informed Mrs. Clark of the arrest, who crossed the river, and at the magistrate’s request, took lodgings in his family.
5. The Examination.
On Saturday, 25th November, the accused was brought before the examining magistrate.
It was proved by Josiah A. Lyle, the deputy postmaster, that the defendant had called several times for the letter, previous to the 24th, that was expected from Arkansas; that on yesterday he called again for the letter which was then in the post office. The witness closely questioned the defendant whether he was the identical Thomas Tutty to whom the letter was directed; the defendan[t] answered “I am, and there are $50 in the letter, let me open it and I will convince you that I am the man.”
The defendant being asked by the magistrate what he had to say to the evidence of the postmaster, equivocated and said that on yesterday he fell in company with a man, whose name he did not know, who bargained with him to take a letter out of the post office directed to Thomas Tutty, and gave him a dollar to pay the postage. The stranger told him that the letter had fifty dollars in it; that he, the defendant, had answered to the name of Thomas Tutty to get the letter, but that his name was Edward H. Morris.
The defendant was committed for further proceedings. On Sat-
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urday, the 2d December, the defendant was again brought before the examining magistrate.
On this day several witnesses proved that he was the same Irishman who was in Hempstead county, Arkansas, in Clark’s neighborhood known by the name of Edward H. Morris, that about the time the child was carried off, the defendant disappeared, and was not heard of until the day of his arrest.
One witness deposed that he was acquainted with the hand-writing of the defendant, Edward H. Morris, that he had often seen him write, and that the letter shown, said to have been written by Thomas Tutty, was in the proper hand-writing of the defendant, and which was afterwards further proved by the writing of the defendant made before the magistrate.
The defendant being asked by the magistrate what he had to say to the evidence against him on this day, acknowledged and confessed that he knew all about the circumstances of the carrying off the child; that on the day of his arrest he saw the child in Thomas Tutty’s possession; that it was his intention to get the child from Tutty, deliver him to his mother, and claim the reward; he said the child was well, and informed the mother, Huldah Clark, then present, that if he had not been arrested, she would have had her child delivered to her on that day.
[It afterwards appeared that on the day defendant was arrested, the child was left by him in the possession of his accomplice, M’Felon, within the bounds of the city, but when defendant was arrested M’Felon made his escape, and carried off the child, no one knew where.]
In a conversation with the child’s mother in presence of the magistrate, late in the evening of that day, the defendant told her that he knew all about her son; where he was, and in whose possession, and if she and the magistrate would come to the prison in the forenoon of the next day, being the Sabbath, he would tell her how and where to get her son.
6. A Mysterious Transaction.
The evening of Saturday, the 2d December, closed with a driving rain from the south-east. At the usual hour the sheriff, then living in the prison, and acting as jailor, made secure every door and shutter, and retired to his bed-room, hanging the several keys on their proper hooks, went to bed, and fell into a deep sleep,
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whether natural, drugged, or feigned, the writer does not say; no doubt the rushing sound of the wind, and the pattering rain, may have had their soporific influence. [A very mysterious transaction took place in the night, and which from sundry dark sayings, and whisperings of Mr. Report, and from the disclosure of Thomas Tutty on the ensuing morning, the following incidents have been collected, whether real, or imaginary, let every one judge for himself. Towards midnight some unknown persons in disguise, made their way, by means unknown, into the bed-room of the sheriff, took down the prison keys, opened the prison door, took out Tutty, alias Morris, secured the door, and carried him off to some unknown place within the city, where a regularly organized Lynch Court was in session. An indictment, drawn up in legal technicality, was read charging Thomas Tutty alias Edward H. Morris, the prisoner, with having feloniously and with force of arms stole and carried away Thomas, the little son of Benjamin Clark, to defraud and extort large sums of money from the said Benjamin, contrary, &c. To these charges the defendant plead [sic] ‘not guilty,’ whereupon evidence was exhibited, the facts or counts proved, and the defendant found guilty in manner and form, &c., &c. The Court proceeded to pronounce the judgment the law prescribed—that the defendant receive forthwith on his bare back thirty-nine lashes, save and except, that if he would cause the stolen child to be restored to his mother the punishment of the law would be remitted. The defendant refused at first to divulge his secret, whereupon the lash was applied manus molliter. The stimulant effect of the whip roused the dormant recollections of the defendant, so that he now was willing to tell the Court where the child was, and how he could be got; upon which disclosure the balance of the sentence was remitted, the prisoner returned to his proper place in the prison, the doors locked, and the keys restored to their proper places, the sheriff being still asleep, knowing nothing of this midnight transaction. Two of the officers of the Court got upon swift horses, dark and rainy as it was, went to the house in Jefferson county described by the defendant, when they were informed that a man and small boy had been there, but had sometime since gone off, nobody knew where. [The transactors of this midnight proceeding were never legally known.]
Early on Sunday morning the Sheriff awoke from his deep
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sleep, made his usual examination of the prison, found all secure, and the keys in their proper places. Upon hearing groans in the prison, the sheriff repaired thither, and was informed by Tutty, alias Morris, in detail, the mysterious transactions of the past night—the Sheriff was, or appeared to be, astonished at the recital—seemed incredulous, and insisted that the prisoner was mistaken; that he must have had a horrid dream, in which his guilty, troubled conscience must have imagined the transactions by him narrated; that he, the sheriff, upon awaking, had found all the doors locked, and the keys in their proper places, and had any person have come into his room he must have known it. The prisoner showed his back, where there was evidence sufficient to prove his statement of the past night’s transaction—upon the man’s back being stripped, showing the lashes, the sheriff made a great fuss, and averred that some enemy must have secretly drugged him into so deep a sleep as to render him unconscious of this midnight transaction, and expressed much sympathy for the suffering prisoner!
At the appointed time, on Sunday morning, the magistrate and Mrs. Clark repaired to the prison for the proposed disclosure of the prisoner. They found him writhing and groaning from the effects of the past night’s mysterious transaction, which he in brief detailed to them. The magistrate and the mother could get no further disclosure, although they used every soothing and persuasive argument in their power. He refused to say where the child was, and resisted every promise to alleviate his sufferings so far as they could, and with all to liberally reward him for enabling them to get the child; all in vain; his mind was set, he would disclose nothing, and excused himself by saying that if the outrage had not been committed on him the past night, he would have directed the mother where to have got her child; as it was he refused to say further. With sad and bitter feelings the mother had to suffer this cruel disappointment.
[The writer of this narrative would here observe, that from his long and extensive experience in his official proceedings in thousands of cases, he has reason to believe, that had the sheriff have performed his duty and resisted all importunity from the transactors of the midnight outrage, the magistrate and the mother would have obtained from the prisoner such information as would have
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enabled them to get the child without further delay, or suffering. As it was, this lawless and inhuman outrage, frustrated the expectations of the magistrate and mother, and caused a vast amount of suffering to the parents and to the child, for upwards of six months thereafter, and the suicidal death of the prisoner.]
7. Thomas Tutty alias Morris performs an unexpected act of justice.
As nothing further could be done by the examining magistrate, he committed the defendant, and returned his procee[d]ings to the Criminal Court.
By request the Judge of the Criminal Court, the Hon. George Winchester, opened the proceedings, examined the evidence, and came to the same conclusion, that the magistrate had previously made. He observed that any proceeding in the Criminal Court would be of little, probably of no service in recovering the child, and suggested to all concerned the expediency of dismissing the prosecution; that the accused should consent to go with the party to Arkansas, where all could be reconciled, the child restored to his parents, and all be at peace. All agreed to the suggestion, as being right, and the best that could be done; the prosecution was dismissed. The party with Morris, without delay, set forward on their journey homeward. At some days travel beyond Vidalia, at night the party encamped at a bayou; all seemed content and quiet, but all were not so. Morris watched his opportunity, snatched a pistol from his conductor, presented it to his own head—the pistol missed fire, he threw it down, ran to the bayou, jumped in, sank in deep water, went to his own place, to rise no more. The party went on their way sad and without hope.
8. The lost Child is found.
Early in December, a man whom we recognize as McFelon, the accomplice of Morris, was seen paddling a small canoe up Red River, having in the canoe what seemed to be a bundle of old rags. Upon passing the landing place of Alexandria, he went ashore, took out the bundle, and left it in a safe place on the bank of the river, quickly returned to his canoe, paddled off, and was seen no more.
There lived in the outskirts of Alexandria a woman whom we shall call Margaret M’Crusty. This woman, whether maid or
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widow is not material, was advanced in years; had a hawk nose, thin lips, deep set grey eyes, and a projecting chin with a few bristles thereon, grizzled hair, covered with an old fashioned cap. Her disposition was in affinity with none of her neighbors. Addicted to fault-finding and scolding, she kept such as would have anything to do with her, in a ferment. To the softer and finer feelings of the female heart she was a stranger. She kept pretty much to herself and had she lived in “Salem Times,” would have been called a witch.
This old woman saw the canoe man deposi[t] the bundle, and when he had gone, had the curiosity to see what it might contain. She did so, and found wrapped up therein, a poor, emaciated child, hungry and half dead with cold. A spark of compassion was struck from her flinty heart; she carried home the boy, warmed, fed, washed, and clothed him. The boy recovered apace, and soon became healthy and fleshy, but could give no information who he was, whence he came, or who were his parents.
Time passed on; the winter was over; the spring had passed by; the summer had begun. The crusty old woman got tired of her foundling; ill-treated and neglected him. Some of the neighboring women had seen the child at the beldame’s house, and wondered where she had got it. They also observed that the poor boy was badly treated and neglected. Some of the women, whose hearts were in the right place, resented the ill-treatment of the poor boy, and made a stir and hubbub about the old hag’s conduct, and rated her soundly. The people, hearing the fuss, ran to the old woman’s hut, to know what the scolding might mean.
Among those who ran together upon this occasion was a worthy citizen of Natchez, Richard C. Langdon, then at Alexandria on business. This good man had knowledge of the proceedings against Thomas Tutty or Morris as before narrated. Upon being informed that the child, the subject of the hub[b]ub, was left on the river bank by some [u]nknown person early in December past, he was induced to relate to the people present the circumstances and facts that had come to his know[l]edge in the case of Thomas Tutty, otherwise called Morris. The recital forcibly arrested the attention of a stranger present, who it appeared was well acquainted with Benjamin Clark; had often been at his house; knew his youngest son Tommy; had often taken him on his knees, ran his
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fingers through the sleek and well-combed hair of the child, and had observed a peculiar mark on his head—he drew the little sufferer [t]o him; parted the matted, uncombed hair of the child, and found the well-known mark—was there not joy among the women on that day?
The mothers present, took possession of the little boy—strained him to their bosoms, wept over him, and gave one shout, loud and long, “the lost is found—the dead is alive.”
God bless you, mothers, beloved crowns of rejoicing to your husbands, your country’s richest treasure. O may the all-bountiful God shower his richest blessings upon you—for life—for death—for eternity.
The little boy was cared for by those good mothers—washed, dressed and nursed with an affection and solicitude, that none but mothers feel.
In due time the happy stranger restored little Tommy to his sorrowing, but now happy parents.
CHILD KIDNAPPED
In October of the year 1825, a child of Benjamin Clark, whose home was five or six miles from Washington, was kidnapped by a man riding through the country on horseback. The child, in the care of a slave nurse, was playing in the road a short distance from the house, when the stranger rode up, stopped his horse, and took the child up in his arms and rode off with it. Before the nurse could run to the house and report the incident, the man escaped.
A country-wide search was instituted, but no trace or clue was discovered until some time in the following year, when a letter addressed to Mr. Clark and mailed at Natchez, Mississippi, stated that the writer knew of the occurrence, and knew where the child was, and that if Mr. Clark would send $50 in a letter directed to Thomas Tutty, he would deliver the child to a woman only, at a certain place on the Ouachita River, to be afterward designated; at which place Mr. Clark was to remit to him, by the person receiving the child, an additional sum of $150, and make no effort to discover who was concerned in the transaction, for if he did, the child’s life would be in danger.
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Mr. Clark followed the instructions, but first notified the postmaster and authorities at Natchez, apprising them of the facts, to apprehend any person calling for a letter directed to Thomas Tutty.
In due time, the man called at the Post Office in Natche for the letter, and was arrested. He gave his name as Edward H. Morris, and said he was a native of Ireland; but his statements were so contradictory it was evident that he was the principal in the case—the real kidnapper. He maintained an inflexible silence as to the fate of the child or its whereabouts. Meantime, a posse was formed in Washington and went to Natchez to bring him back to the scene of the crime, and for further trial.
He was accordingly turned over to Mr. Clark and the posse started back to Washington, but at the river crossing over the Ouachita, or Mississippi, it was said he jumped overboard and was drowned. Thus, it seemed, ended all hopes of gaining any further knowledge of the lost child.
THE LOST CHILD FOUND
Some time in the fall of 1826, the writer’s father, Matthew Moss, then a young man of about nineteen or twenty years of age, went to New Orleans to purchase goods for his father’s store in Washington; and while sitting in the lobby of the old St. Charles Hotel he happened to overhear a conversation between some men about a family of horse-traders, or gypsies, camped on the banks of Red River a few miles from the city; the conversation centered around a white child seen among the horse-traders, and my father, remembering the case of little Thomas Clark, immedi-
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ately became interested and sought out the authorities, who went with him to see and interview the campers.
They were informed that the child had been left with them by a man who said he would come back after the child, but that they had never heard from him again.
While it had been nearly two years since the child was abducted, my father easily identified him as the Clark child, both by the resemblance and by a scar on the back of his head which was found without difficulty, so that no doubt whatever remained as to his identity.
The feelings of the parents on having their young son restored to their arms can easier be imagined than portrayed with a pen.
The little boy was put in the care of the captain of a steamboat at New Orleans and brought back to the nearest landing on the Red River, and delivered to his parents overland in Hempstead County.
Thomas Clark grew to manhood on the farm six miles from Washington. He then moved to Texas where he lived to reach a ripe old age.